Operation Jaguar
by Mistflyer1102
Summary: Two peaceful years have passed since Mission City before being suddenly disrupted again. Captain Alexis Preston and her comrades struggle to survive as the universal balance of power begins to shift, bringing in new and far more dangerous players.
1. Façade

One

Façade

New England is an ageless forested beauty, protector of ancient natural treasures of eras past. It had no defense however, against the only real two thieves it had to worry about, which were nature itself and time. The elements and age always weathered away the majestic rocks of northern Maine, or the granite mountains of New Hampshire, or the stubborn land plants of Massachusetts. Even the Appalachian mountain range, carved out of a few states in the northeastern region before extending south, faced the elements yet still stood tall and proud. For now however, despite the approaching winter, all was at peace in the region.

A young red-tailed hawk soared high above the green carpet of central Massachusetts. It was a cloudy day with cool and misty air, warning signs of the approaching change in season. The hawk was a straggler; he had been making the last few security rounds to his territory before heading to a warmer climate. The bird of prey stood out in its environment, a streak of red against the coniferous background below. The hawk was on the verge of obeying the instinctual command to head south, forgoing the hunt in favor of simply flying for the day. It could eat later or en route; no matter where one was there were always going to be tasty little rodents on the ground or schools of fish in the rivers and streams.

The hawk came to a light landing on a nearby branch, giving his territory a cursory glance. The area was critical to its survival, for the bird used the territory to climb up higher in the hawk hierarchy. Then the higher up one was, the easier it was to attract potential mates. The bird's golden eyes carefully scanned each tree, each branch, for any unwanted trespassers, and flexed its wings just in case a trespasser suddenly appeared. The air was still, was quiet…

No, the air wasn't quiet. The hawk tilted its head to hear the growling, grinding sound better. It was getting louder as the massive predator approached the hawk's boundaries.

A threat presenting a challenge.

With a loud rasping battle-cry, the hawk took flight, searching for the enemy. It was easy to find it because the enemy was always loud and easy to find. It was one of the giant, hard-shelled birds that usually came this way, reptiles with impenetrable wings, loud sounds, and oddly shaped tailfins that jutted out from the center of the rear part of the body. The hawk rarely had to engage one in combat; the creature would usually see it coming and duck down to avoid it. All the hawk really had to do was scare it into submission.

Not this time.

The creature did not duck. Instead, it continued on in its original flight path. Since it did not back down in submission, the hawk screamed and raked its talons all along the invisible surface and down the shiny surface of the body. It was the sonic screech of surprise that that forced the hawk to retreat from the aerial battleground. The bird soared underneath however to rake at the creature's unprotected belly, prompting another sonic screech that forced the hawk to fly ahead of the enemy. Angered, the bird swooped down in front of the invader and made a direct beeline for it, prepared to meet it head-on.

The combatants unknowingly attracted a spectator. At the nearby Fort Deven, the traffic controller jumped in his seat when he looked up at the large windows in time to witness a sudden explosion of red feathers against the green backdrop. He could only sit in stunned silenced as an F-22 came into land, its weapons folding down while still smoking slightly from the recent kill. The controller, having finally come to his senses, made a note of the lack of tailfin ID numbers, and then began jotting down the list of offenses for this pilot, starting with the death of the hawk. It was all going on the pilot's permanent record.

The radio crackled to life, and a male voice asked, "_**I am trying to locate the four-oh-first… where has the squadron been relocated?"**_

The controller wrote down the fact that the pilot failed to identify himself, the fourth offense in five minutes. "Please identify yourself or proper security measures will be taken," the controller ordered, his hand inching near a certain big red button on the panel before him.

"_**This is… **_**Lieutenant Stryker Davis.**_** Yes, I am the lieutenant,"**_ was the mystifying response.

Frowning slightly at the odd way the lieutenant phrased his response, the controller said, "Wait a moment please, lieutenant." He accessed the Air Force data log and began carefully sifting through the data. There was huge overload of new information, especially after the recent events. The destruction of the carrier _USS Lincoln_ was now involving insurance claims, monetary reparations, and even a written death threat from the wife of one of the many victims. All that had been included into the log. The second item was that the National Security Advisor Galloway was attempting to sue both the Air Force and the Army for apparently ditching him on purpose near the country of Jordan via parachute because the jet in question was in flight. For some odd reason, the controller found that tidbit the funniest. All of the added information left the defense department in serious disarray, and it was confusing.

To the controller's delight, he found the record. He did not notice the footnote however that clearly stated that Stryker Davis had been released from military service. The controller didn't immediately speak with the lieutenant; instead he began entering the list of offenses onto the record, which included but was not limited to, improper paint schemes, lack of proper ID, failure to properly identify himself, and senselessly slaughtering a poor hawk.

"_**Did you find it yet?"**_

The controller nearly jumped at the sudden voice reminding him that the pilot was still waiting. "Lieutenant, sir, I regret to inform you but the Four-oh-first was officially disbanded two years ago," the controller informed him. "But if you wish to see the former commanding officer, she is currently stationed at the U.S. naval base in the East China Sea."

"_**Where's that exactly?"**_

The controller stared at the radio before replying, "The sea would be between China and Japan on the other side of the world. Is there any particular reason you are looking for the Four-oh-first?" he asked, the conversation growing odder and odder by the moment.

"_**Nope.**_"

"One more thing, lieutenant," the controller said, and it seemed to him that the jet seemed to turn around in a minuscule turn to watch him. The controller took a deep breath and said, "For the next time you come here, please don't kill the local wildlife. Massachusetts takes great pride in the natural world here in the state, and we must respect that."

"_**Okay."**_

The controller could only stare in bafflement as the oddly-painted jet turned around on the runway and began to leave. If the lieutenant hadn't identified himself, the controller would have assumed that the pilot was a freelancer using illegal military equipment. He leaned on the console, watching as the fighter took to the skies… and abruptly disappeared altogether.

The controller froze, his gut churning uncomfortably at his brain tried to process what he had just witnessed. The jet had been there one minute, and then gone the next. The jet didn't even gain enough altitude to have vanished into the clouds. The controller felt his lunch returning to visit, and hustled off to the restroom, not caring that he was completely abandoning his assigned post.

-------------

"Someone fix the damn TV… it's gone all snowy again!"

"You're the closest to it, _you_ fix it!"

Ex – master forger Rodney Lockeys looked up in time to see two of his fellow inmates kick off a full-blown brawl while the source of the TV's problem, two oddly-shaped antennae on top, finally collapsed and snapped off the appliance completely. The two brawlers completed the damage by falling on top of the antennae and snapping both poles in half.

Things were always breaking here in this medium-security prison. Rodney knew that because after four years of enjoying nothing other than said TV, accidents like that happened daily. He didn't want to look out the window, because by doing so, all he would see was desert. Not even a cactus to break the tedium of sand and sky. The air conditioner inside only worked half of the time, and required a smack to the top to get it going. Insects and other creatures somehow managed to get their way in to torment the residents, both prisoners and guards. Rodney was still convinced he saw a black scorpion earlier that week.

News traveled slow, and the men had been relying on the dying satellite television set for news. Then the black metallic face had come on, warning them all of hostile takeover of their planet. The prisoners didn't care about the warning; they were more interested in the manhunt for the teenager Sam Witwicky. Bets had been placed on how long the kid would survive.

Nobody won.

Rodney had been close though. He had given the Witwicky about a week before the authorities caught up to him. The kid had taken eight days to resurface from wherever he'd been.

"Now we have no TV," Magdowl, Rodney's card partner, grumbled as he stared at his hand. "I even wouldn't mind seeing that metallic freak again onscreen just as long as it meant the TV was working."

"Here we are, wishing for a better TV when the folks topside get the fancy digital ones and complain about cable or something like that. I'm thrilled just to get reception… or I was thrilled to get reception," Rodney said, eyeing the broken antennae on the floor.

"Maybe the metallic freak can get us a better TV before he takes over the world," Magdowl grumbled as Laurent, a Grand Auto Theft master, slipped into an empty seat across from the two of them. Magdowl stared at him and said, "Go get your own table, this one's full."

Laurent ignored him. Instead he asked, "Did you not hear the news?" When neither Rodney or Magdowl responded, Laurent said, "The movie studio _Mountains_ is being sued by the feds for causing a mass panic with the film of a scary metal guy. Apparently they were filming a remake of Orson Well's _War of the Worlds_, and wanted a genuine reaction from the public. The whole world has gone berserk since then."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Magdowl muttered. "Remember the whole controversy over the Mission City terrorist attacks and the United Nations? Remember Oroville before that? Talk about a serious mess. Kind of makes you wonder if the end of the world is in December… I wouldn't be surprised if it was."

"Where'd you hear about the feds suing?" Rodney asked curiously, pointedly ignoring Magdowl's peanut gallery comments.

Laurent shrugged. "It was the last thing the TV was showing before it got busted," he replied. He eyed the half-finished card game and asked, "Got bored?"

"I can play this game in my sleep and still win. It's frustrating, playing with amateurs," Magdowl grumbled. "Lockeys at least is a decent player compared to the rest of the little girls in this place."

"Harsh," Laurent said feigning hurt as Rodney rolled his eyes.

"Lockeys!" a guard shouted from the entrance to the rec room. "You've got a visitor!"

Rodney groaned as Magdowl roared in laughter. The visitor had better not be who he thought it was. "If it's my ma, tell her I'm deathly ill… and contagious!" Rodney shouted back, shrinking in his seat as though to hide from the guard's sharp gaze.

"Dude, you're the only guy I know whose mother still visits her son in prison. My mother officially disowned me when the FBI busted me with the trafficking of illegal goodies," Magdowl said, wiping the corner of his eyes with his grimy shirt sleeve.

"It ain't your mother Lockeys! Now get over here before I come in there!" the guard shouted from the safety of his security station. When Rodney didn't immediately get up, the guard shouted again, "Don't make me come in after you!"

"He wouldn't," Magdowl said dismissively. He began dealing another round.

"He would," Rodney corrected, remembering the last time. The guard had come in, and caught Rodney's shirt hem as Rodney tried to flee, knocking the prisoner to the ground. Then the guard has seized Rodney's ankles and literally dragged him out of the rec room. Rodney then had to explain to his mother why there was a large stain on the front of his shirt, on the account that he had slid along his stomach when the guard dragged him out.

"Lockeys!"

"I'm coming!" Rodney shouted back irritably. He got up from the table and said, "Laurent, my spot is yours."

"Thanks man!" Laurent said, and swiftly took over Rodney's seat as soon as it was vacated. Rodney however dragged his feet as he walked to the door of the rec room. He didn't want to see any visitors; he wanted to keep playing cards.

Outside in the hall, Rodney saw no sign of his visitor as he let the security guard handcuff his wrists together behind his back for the trip back to the cell. Rodney was used to all this; he'd been doing the same routine for the last four years now. Four years of prison food, four years of bad TV, four years of bi-weekly visits from his mother, four years of hammering out a rep amongst the inmates, and four long resentful years of hating the jerks who had originally thrown him here on the charge of being a terrorist's accomplice… and for forging licenses, FBI ID cards, and several federal documents. It was the first charge that made him angry the most though. He knew the Oroville charge was false; he'd saved newspapers from the last four years (when he could scrounge up the money to pay for them) and just _knew_ that the metal aliens existed. There had to be a connection between Qatar in 2007 and the Jordan fiasco a couple of weeks ago. But as to expectation, the guard said nothing about Jordan to him, and Rodney only discovered it when he'd saved enough money for another outdated newspaper.

Nobody told Rodney anything nowadays. It was frustrating.

"Here you go," the guard said, pausing outside Rodney's room and unlocked the door. He opened the door and held it open, looking expectantly at Rodney.

"Um, what about the cuffs, sir?"Rodney asked, bewildered at the sudden freedom of greeting a guest without a guard present.

"Your visitor wanted a private meeting, so the cuffs are on your hands will prevent you from attempting to do serious physical harm to your visitor. Sorry, regulations," the guard replied.

Rodney wasn't sure to be complimented that the guard thought that him, a scrawny sort of guy, was capable of such violence, or to be offended that the guard thought he would even attack a visitor in the first place. Besides, he knew that he and his visitor wouldn't have privacy anyway; the guards would be spying on them via the small camera that was located in the corner of his cell. As he walked into the little room, he supposed it was a good idea that he was handcuffed; if it was his mother in disguise again, he might strangle either her or himself.

"You have fifteen minutes," the guard warned, and then gave Rodney a small shove so that Rodney would get into the room faster.

At least his visitor didn't try to hide behind the door or something cliché like that. As Rodney walked in, he immediately spied his guest sitting on the 'bed'. It was more like a cot. The visitor wore a large trench coat that covered the figure completely, and a sweatshirt underneath the coat so that the hood could be used to cover the person's face. Gloves and boots completed the outfit, and Rodney guessed that the guy was trying to conceal his identity from the curious onlookers in the prison.

It was definitely not his mother.

"I'd love to know how you got in here looking like that without questions from the guards," Rodney said, edging along the wall on the opposite side of the cell, just in case his visitor was planning to kill him in here. The handcuffs prevented him from defending himself, and the guards could only get to the cell only so fast. On top of all that, the guest had that air around them that suggested they had killed in the past.

"The disguise wasn't for in here, just for the trip," the visitor replied, the distinct and familiar feminine tone tickling Rodney's memory. "I… had to evade somebody," the person continued, pulling the sweatshirt hood off to reveal a face that Rodney knew well and never wanted to see again until he'd left prison.

Suddenly, he wished it was his mother under that disguise sitting here before him.

"What the hell are you doing here? _Why_ are you here?" he said, jerking back in a similar fashion to an offended and angry cat.

"Where I come from, people usually say 'hello' before jumping to accusations," Air Force commander Antonia Stanton remarked, eyeing him.

"Where _I _come from, people usually don't try to give prison inmates heart attacks," Rodney replied carefully. Trouble usually followed this woman around, and he'd gotten caught because of it one time. "If you're here to entice me into another job…"

"You have no tools," Stanton reminded him bluntly. Rodney's shoulders sagged at the reminder, but the woman seemed unbothered. "Actually, I was here to pass along a few messages and, well, _offer_ a work opportunity. I can always work something out with the guards," she said, folding her hands in her lap.

"Fine, shoot," Rodney muttered, and then quickly added, "Not literally!"

Stanton smiled a thin smile. "They relieved me of all my weapons at the door," she said. "Even the small handgun, so don't worry so much. As for the messages, one is that your sentence has been shortened from life to thirty years. The secretary of defense was still displeased with the fact that you forged his signature on several documents, drew up your own, and signed his name on those too."

Rodney scowled. "You paid me to do that, remember?" he asked.

Stanton nodded. "If you remember correctly, I believe you said that you were having fun doing it?" she asked calmly.

Rodney looked as though he had swallowed an extremely sour lemon. But she did have a point, and he could remember the entertainment he'd gotten from working at his craft. "Did you ever get anything from that incident in the end?" he asked.

Stanton nodded. "It didn't come back to bite me until early last year when Keller made a few connections I neglected to mention to him, and he pressured Thayer to knock me down on the ranking systems," she said, heaving a sigh. "Then he assigned me a 'bodyguard' whose job it is to make sure I stay within regulations and don't do anything crazy like disappear off the map again and blow something else up."

"Is that the person you're hiding from?" Rodney asked.

Stanton nodded. "Problem is that I saw a guard here who knows the bodyguard, so I can't stay long before I get dragged out of here," she said. "Now the second message is from Twitch, and he says 'hello', and wants to know what it's like to be behind bars."

"Tell him to pay a week-long visit here and he'll get the best firsthand experience ever," Rodney said coolly. "The nation's car industry and products aren't safe while he's running around."

"I actually saw him in Hangzhou, China a month or so ago," Stanton said. "He was stealing… as usual."

"I don't get how he evades the authorities," Rodney said, relaxing his stance a bit.

"Me neither. Now, I do have an offer for work for you. It's case sensitive, so I can't explain it here," Stanton said, leaning forward.

"I'll pass… I like it in here where I know that there are no crazy women and only just tough guys to worry about," Rodney said quickly without considering the offer.

Stanton tilted her head, and then said, "Well, think on it. I will hopefully see you again," she said, standing up and walking to the door. She tapped her knuckles hard against the metal, and the guard outside opened the door and let her out. Rodney heard her thank the guard, and then an encroaching silence as her footsteps faded away down the hall.

Rodney wandered out of the cell, and then asked his guard, "Can I go back to my card game now?"

The guard had no remorse in his tone when he said, "No. Free time is over."

-----------

A/N: Welcome to Operation Jaguar! While this story is the sequel to Air Force One, it can work as a stand-alone. Be forewarned: this story will contain spoilers and details from the '09 Transformers movie, _Revenge of the Fallen._ Yes, I did make up the name of the movie studio; I didn't want to use the real name and risk getting sued. Transformers and all related media are the property of Hasbro. All original characters, both old faces and new, belong to me and require my written permission to use elsewhere. Finally, no real red-tailed hawks were injured in the making of the chapter.


	2. Caged

Two

Caged

The soft violin music on the veranda outside the upscale Italian restaurant did not completely drown out the natural music of the nighttime crickets. There was also a general hum of noise as diners spoke softly to their respective companions. The conversations themselves however never extended beyond the invisible bubble of the table. Above the guests, there were white, green and red-glassed lights strung in delicate strands across the whitewash latticework that crisscrossed above the people, forming a sort of ceiling.

Neither of the two diners in the shielded corner of the veranda noticed it either.

"…but then it turned out that it was my younger sister, Mary, who put the Whoopee cushion underneath the couch seat after all," Tyrone Maxwell said, grinning fondly at the memory from his childhood.

"I love your family," his dinner companion, Alexis Preston, said, smiling with him. She looked down at the table briefly, and then looked back up at him, still smiling. "Mary especially can be so... _animated._"

Tyrone grinned, and Alexis once again could see the reason why she fell for him shortly after first arriving to Fort Devens more than a year ago. As her second-in-command, he had proved to be extremely likeable, and was always eager to please. He helped her adjust to the squadron, who were used to running things on their own without an official captain for about two years. Tyrone had also introduced her to a squadron quirk, all by accident. He had been showing her the squadron's aerial boundaries one afternoon via F-22. The boundaries themselves were smaller than she was used to because Fort Devens was close to civilian areas. On their way back however, they had encountered a hyperactive red-tailed hawk, an unusually fearless bird that attempted to challenge them both. Tyrone said that the trick to avoiding the bird was to simply lose altitude and escape the bird underneath. The hawk turned out to be the official mascot of the squadron; someone had even put an image of it on the squadron's insignia, all because the bird was a permanent source of entertainment to the pilots stationed there.

That had all happened when she'd first arrived. Much had changed since then.

"My parents loved having you over last week. Mom _ordered_ me to bring you back sometime again," Tyrone continued, catching Alexis's wandering thoughts. He leaned forward on the table and said, "You'll have to introduce me to your folks sometime."

"Yeah… assuming that, um, my mother hasn't moved again… she never liked staying in one place much," Alexis said carefully, not sure how to tell Tyrone that her parents were strict and controlling while her sister was a domineering force in their sibling relationship. She also wasn't sure how to tell Tyrone that she'd tricked her parents by pretending to go to one college while really going to another, and then dropping out of contact ever since. The only connection she maintained with them was the occasional holiday card in the winter… when it was remembered in time.

Hopefully another discussion for another time.

Tyrone hadn't noticed her silence. "Maybe next time we get a leave longer than two weeks?" he suggested, leaning back so the waiter could take their empty dishes from the table. Alexis nodded to the proposition as another waiter appeared before them.

"Dessert, signor? Signorina?" the waiter asked politely, glancing at them both.

"Uh, maybe a slice of chocolate cake to split?" Tyrone suggested, looking at her for confirmation. She nodded in agreement, and the waiter gave a short little bow before leaving with his companion, who had the empty dishes. After they were gone, Tyrone turned back to face her and asked, "Do you think you would want to go somewhere outside the city tomorrow with me? I promised Mary that I would get some pictures of Virginia… she's obsessed with the place."

Alexis shrugged. She tried not to think too far into the future; it distracted her from the here and now where her attention was more mandatory. "Assuming there aren't any figurative bombs dropped tomorrow, maybe I could come," she said.

"Or literal. Terrifying with the _Lincoln_ and Jordan," Tyrone reminded her. She nodded, mentally shuddering at the memory of the images on the television during the news coverage of both events. The reports had been vague, but Alexis had a pretty good idea of at least who had been involved.

Tyrone grinned. "I think the only calamity we're going to get is whatever your friend comes up with for tomorrow," he said after observing her silence. "How is she doing?"

Alexis sighed, thinking of her wayward friend. She had not seen Arianna Aliskevicz since Ari arrived in France almost two years ago. So it was reasonable that Alexis hadn't been around to help Ari deal with the Autobot/Decepticon surprise Ari had gotten as a 2009 New Year's 'gift' while stationed in London. Ever since then, Ari had been extremely skittish around anything with four wheels and a motor. She wrote constantly to Alexis, sometimes with news, gossip, or a story ending with a car being ditched in favor of a bike, jet, or simply going on foot. Ari also asked for advice on menial things, such as how to properly address an Autobot without accidentally being offensive… especially with Ironhide. Ari asked tons of questions on best how to best handle the weapons specialist. Alexis was not surprised that it never occurred to Ari that technically, Alexis shouldn't really know this stuff to begin with.

"Ari's doing great… no calamities in the past two weeks. She's possibly coming back to the States in a couple of days," Alexis said, leaning back slightly so the waiter could put the cake down in front of them.

"That's good," Tyrone said while picking up his fork. "I can't wait to meet her at last and get the stamp of approval."

Alexis grinned. "She's worse than my dad…if you can get her approval, then my dad is going to be easy," she said, beginning to take bits of cake with her fork as Tyrone took a bite.

Tyrone grinned.

They ate the slice in silence. Alexis discovered that her wallet was missing from her purse, and scowled when Tyrone held the item up triumphantly. He paid the bill while she finished up the cake remnants, and then he escorted her out to the parking lot.

"If you pay,_ I _drive," she warned him as they approached the car.

Feigning a frown, he asked, "Do you have the keys?"

She swatted him in mock annoyance when she discovered that her keys were also missing.

The car ride was done in silence, but it was a comfortable, happy sort of silence. Alexis knew she probably endangered them both by using Tyrone's shoulder as a pillow, but he didn't tell her to move. She felt… safe, sitting there at his side in the car, as though there was nothing the universe could procure to threaten the safety and closeness between them.

"I've decided just now to steal you a little longer," Tyrone suddenly said, and she sat up to look at him. He turned to her and said, "If you have to be somewhere now…"

"No, no I'm good," she assured him, grinning slightly. "Have somewhere other than your apartment in mind?"

Tyrone grinned. "No, it's just going to be a relaxing drive. You're not going to let that one incident go are you?" he asked, a wry smile still playing around on his mouth as though he was trying to maintain the humor while talking about a touchy subject.

Alexis offered a thin smile. "If Ari ever figures out that you tried to pull that stunt, well, you're going to be missing a few things in the morning," she warned.

Tyrone shuddered. "Is she really that violent?" he asked. "I was talking to the crew chief the other day, and he said that messing with Ari wasn't the right thing to do, especially since she was buddies with you."

"Who told you that?" Alexis asked, frowning at the mention of a third party.

Tyrone shrugged. "Carlos Lopez. Apparently, he heard it from another pilot, some guy named Riley Mackerson," he said. He turned to look at her and said, "Apparently you and Mackerson worked together for some time before the four-oh-first was disbanded?"

"Yeah… do I detect a bit of jealously there?" Alexis asked playfully, catching onto the undertone in Tyrone's voice.

Tyrone let out a sigh of irritation. "Easy there captain, I'm a male. We males tend to get territorial and a smidge possessive about potential mates. We make our claims fast before all the good ladies go. We also will fight to the death to fend off intruders," he said in a mock serious tone.

Alexis snorted. "You sound like a caveman or something when you put it that way," she said, eyeing Tyrone a little warily. "I don't like it at all when my guy gets all possessive and restricts me."

He laughed as he pulled up to the barracks. "As your subordinate, ma'am, I am duty-bound to obey your every order, no matter how ridiculous it is," he assured her.

As always, he saw her to the door. Alexis was reluctant to let this night leave… tomorrow there was always the possibility she would resume her position as captain and he would resume his position as her subordinate. It would be awkward to try and explain this one to the superiors if they ever caught wind of this relationship. Stanton, Alexis remembered, would not even allow the relationships like Alexis's to continue because of the dangers it presented in combat, where their feelings would cloud their judgment when it counted the most. This was a reason that Alexis was secretly grateful that Stanton had been reassigned to a place far from the United States; apparently the current Secretary of Defense had yet to show the disgraced woman any mercy and allow Stanton to return to America.

"Good night, _mi chiquitita_," Tyrone murmured before he kissed her softly while standing on the doorstep to the barracks. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said before heading back to the car and driving away. Alexis knew of his dislike of the barracks, and remembered the apartment he rented in the city.

He once offered her to stay with him. She had declined.

Alexis went straight to her bedroom. Her roommate was still out; everyone was taking full advantage of the nights off from duty. She tossed her bag onto the bed, and then carefully pulled off the black dress she had been wearing that evening. She slipped into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt; she was in her quarters. No one cared about clothing as long as it was reasonable. Dress codes were only obeyed during duty hours.

The next thing to deal with was the mail. Slipping on a sweatshirt and swapping her heels for socks and sneakers, she carefully walked down to the mailroom. She had been gone the entire day again, and the man on duty in the mailroom hated her with a passion because she did that. Dealing with three days' worth of mail in one box was never the man's favorite thing to do.

He was there.

The man gave her a baleful glare as she approached the boxes in a sheepish manner. "Sorry I'm late again," she mumbled, looking like an ashamed toddler.

The man took pity on her again. The trick worked every time, and all the pilots did it to avoid the mailman's wrath. It was always humorous to watch a rookie collect the mail and not appear penitent. "It's okay… you've just got two letters today. One letter via military channels, and one letter through the civilian channels. Try to get the sender through the civilian channel to use the military one… they always charge extra," the man said, forking over the two letters.

"Thanks… and sorry for the civilian thing," Alexis said in a faux sweet tone and then left the mailroom. She was glad for the lack of mail; the less there were, the quicker she could go to bed. As she opened the first one, she walked towards the observation deck on the roof overlooking the hangars, mainly for the fresh night air.

The first letter, and the thicker of the two, was predictably from Ari. Four sheets of writing, both on the front and back, unfolded in Alexis's hands as she pulled them from the envelope. The first half of the letter contained heavy-duty international secrets inter-mingled with complaints, and the second half of the letter contained general news and what seemed like peanut gallery opinions. Alexis wondered if Ari knew that she only escaped censure because she never used the military mail system; Ari always thought that civilian post was faster.

In other words, nothing new there.

Shortly after Alexis finally plowed through Ari's letter, she arrived to the observation deck above the hangar building, and then settled down in a cross-legged position to read the second one. It was a small, bare envelope… it just had her full name and rank in the addressee spot, giving Alexis a sort of ominous feeling as she opened it. To her slight dismay, it was a summons to sit on a panel with other officers, a meeting really. Generally reserved for higher-ranked officers, the note explained that all officers present in the nation's capital were needed because the Joint Chief of Staff Joseph Thayer was flummoxed at the sudden yet recent turn of events. He was ordering the regrouping so he could see where the Air Force stood now and could plan out a strategy for dealing with the current problems. The meeting was going to be in one week.

Judging from what she knew of recent and past events, Alexis figured she could sum it all up for Thayer in one sentence. Decepticons attacked somewhere in the world and the national governments were trying to cover it all up again.

There. Problem solved.

Alexis sighed and lowered the letter so she wouldn't have to stare at the officials' signatures anymore. One of the things she hated about her rank was that it seemed to be an invitation from the superiors to direct her around more often than when she held the lieutenant's rank. On top of that, she used to get away with a lot more than she could now.

Feeling restless, she tucked the letters away into her pocket, knowing that the first half of Ari's eventually had to be destroyed due to the sensitive nature of the contents. She stood up, and calmly made her way down the rickety metal steps to the hangars several floors below inside the building. She yearned to take to the skies, but knew it was forbidden, especially since security was going to be jumpy and she already had standing orders to remain in Washington DC.

To her, the hangars seemed as quiet as a tomb. There were more than just F-22 jets present; she could see the outlines of a V-22 Osprey, two F-35 Lightning IIs, and a F/A – 18E Super Hornet. Alexis knew that there were more in either Andrews or Bolling Air Force base, in addition to the fighter jets and planes here.

Alexis walked over to her F-22, one of the few closest to the hangar doors. She ran a hand over the smooth surface, remembering the feeling of soaring into the skies. Her squadron had almost been called in to reinforce the fighters at Jordan, the deciding factor being that there was sufficient firepower in the end of the confrontation. That was good that they weren't needed… she didn't want her first meeting with Starscream in two years to be in the air on opposing sides.

She had not yet quite forgiven him completely yet. The lying she waved off; she should have expected that from him. It was using her ID card without permission along with the manipulation of her that she hated, mainly because she knew she let it happen. Alexis didn't know what Starscream's role in the latest events was, but she knew that he had to have been at least partially involved; he was never one to sit on the sidelines and watch others have all the fun… especially if destruction was involved. Starscream was probably close to the heart of all that was going wrong lately. Alexis prayed she would never have to go up against him in combat ever again… she got a taste of it at Mission City two years ago, and it was quite unnecessary to get another experience out of something like that.

Another reason to hate him would be that Starscream could fly whenever he pleased, and did not have to wait for a superior's permission to do so. She was restricted, he was not.

Alexis nearly slammed her head against the jet in irritation. If Starscream ever found out that she found a reason to be jealous of him, he would never let her hear the end of it.

"Captain?"

She turned sharply, reaching for her side for a firearm that wasn't even there. To her relief, it was just an army ensign, one of the few in the base. "Yes?" she asked, straightening reflexively.

"You did not answer any of the phone calls that have apparently been coming through, and so the security center was contacted," the ensign explained, lowering the flashlight from her face. "Some guy named Maxwell or something, he wanted to make sure you got in okay," he added, gesturing for her to follow him back to the base.

As she followed the ensign back to the security center, she decided that she didn't care what Starscream did or didn't know; either way, there was no way they would cross paths again.

Unbeknownst to Alexis and the ensign, there had been two witnesses to their meeting. One of the witnesses was stuck in the rafters, working to restore his mobility.

Twitch carefully unwound an arm from the beam that it had gotten tangled in. He'd had such a bad week, and getting stuck in the rafters had been the latest in a line of misfortunes. It all started in Shanghai, when he tried to salvage parts from the gigantic metallic creature that had been stabbed to death by another red-and-blue metal creature. When he'd been going in with a blowtorch to salvage the bits, men in armor suits had appeared out of nowhere with guns blazing. Having a track record of never getting caught, Twitch was forced to use his secret technique to get out. In the process however, he had lost the metallic creature. Then he had stowed away on a commercial liner bound for the United States, exposing himself by accident when he got seasick. After that, he had caught onto the scent of a gorgeous Mustang in the capital city, and had pursued the keys with religious fervor. He'd meant to go in for an aerial ambush, but the owner unknowingly walked away before he could move. So Twitch had to wait until nightfall to leave the military base. In doing so, he had gotten _too_ comfortable sitting in the rafters, so now it was a pain to wiggle out.

If Rodney had been there, he would have sprung Twitch out by now.

Skinny arms free, Twitch began working on his legs. He was already planning to sneak out of the building via the ceiling window that led to the outside. Unfortunately, his date with the Mustang keys was going to have to wait. He moaned as his fingers began shaking as he imagined himself behind the wheel of the Mustang.

Okay, the keys were going to be freed from their oppressive life with their current owner tonight.

He carefully pulled his ankle through the brace in the rafters where it had gotten stuck. No more roof climbing after this… he was going to break a limb doing this. Rodney had been his only friend, his partner, his confidante, and more importantly, that rotten-good-for-nothing forger had been Twitch's _doctor_. Twitch paused to examine a finger that had gotten banged up during the terrorist attacks on Mission City two years ago. Twitch was somewhat sure that the damn thing never healed properly; his knowledge of the human anatomy was good enough to be pretty sure that the finger wasn't supposed to be able to fold back and touch his knuckle.

Free of the encaging rafters, Twitch climbed along them in a similar fashion to a child moving underneath a set of monkey bars on a playground. His thoughts lingered on the captain who had been in there earlier… she looked oddly familiar, and Twitch was pretty sure he had seen her somewhere else before. Lord, he hoped he hadn't stolen a car from her. It was always awkward for Twitch to encounter an old owner of a car he'd stolen.

Well, if he couldn't remember where, then she must've not been important.

He climbed through the window and then slid slowly down the roof to the observation deck. Then he swung over the railing and began climbing down the side of the military base to the street below.

When his bare feet hit the pavement in the dingy alley, Twitch looked around. He wondered if he should find his sneakers first before sneaking back into the base, those guys sure didn't like footprints all over the place…

A flash of light caught his eye, and he nearly froze in place. The light had come from a reflection off of a sideview mirror from a very familiar silver Corolla sitting in the alleyway.

Twitch nearly squealed aloud in excitement, the gorgeous Mustang a long forgotten memory. When he and Rodney had worked for the Stanton couple, the lady had been forced to twist his elbow as a way of reminding him that her precious Corolla was off-limits. He now had the one car he'd always wanted to test right here before him. He grinned, rubbing his hands together in eager anticipation before advancing on the vehicle. He could see the glorious keys sitting in the ignition, just waiting for him specifically to use them.

Twitch's heart dropped to his stomach when he felt a cold metallic circle pressed in between his shoulder blades. He went straight into full panic mode, and then into protection mode. He collapsed onto the ground, unmoving.

"You're kidding me right?" Thomas 'Tom' Wilson asked, lowering the empty pistol while prodding the prone body with a cane. He looked up at his companion, who shrugged. "That's his technique for avoiding getting caught? Playing possum?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Think about it. If you were, say, a cop chasing a burglar and then you get a call about a stolen car, whom would you be concerned about more about chasing? A 'dead' beggar slash car thief off the streets near the stolen car or the burglar who is still alive and running?" his companion asked, walking over to Twitch on the ground. "Or pretend that you're a NEST operative," he continued, leaning down to check the pulse. "Would you worry more about the Decepticon or the guy who 'died' trying to steal the Decepticon?"

"How do you know about NEST?" Tom asked curiously. He'd always thought that that particular group had tighter security seals than Sector Seven.

"When you have a friend or two who got roped into it, they tend to trust that sort of sensitive info with you, especially when you stand to lose everything you have if you talk," the companion said, tying rope around Twitch's arms, legs, and torso. "So, which would you do? Decepticon or guy trying to steal said Decepticon?"

"I wouldn't steal one to begin with, and I can't imagine anyone dumb enough to try," Tom said, watching as the companion picked up Twitch and hauled him to the blue Jeep that had been hidden in the shadows. The Corolla had just been the bait; Twitch wouldn't have gone in for the Jeep when in pursuit of a fancier car. The companion said that they needed a fancy car to catch the thief, and Tom had remembered Twitch's fascination for Stanton's car. "I'm going to continue on my way now… good night."

"Where are you going?" the companion asked curiously. "I thought you were retired."

"I know that, you know that, but they apparently don't know that," Tom said, gesturing to the building behind him. "I got a summons for a panel or something like that… I guess they can't stand to not have me around."

"Whatever. Thanks for helping me get Twitch. You saved me about three months worth of traveling," the companion said, nodding in Tom's direction.

"You're welcome. Say hello to the missus for me," Tom said as the companion climbed into the Jeep, Twitch still tied up in the backseat. The ex-sergeant then watched as the Jeep pulled out of the shadows and left to the mainstream road. The driver had a long way to go before getting home, and Tom suspected that the driver was going to attempt a non-stop drive back.

Tom paused in his tracks. Earlier, he had said he couldn't imagine anyone who would try to steal a Decepticon. He mentally amended his statement. He couldn't imagine any sane person who would try to steal a Decepticon. Obviously, Twitch didn't fall into the 'sane' category.

Tom headed over to the Corolla and slipped into the driver's seat, and then turned the keys in the ignition. Technically the car was on loan; before heading to the East China Sea, Stanton had left the car in her family's care. Then Tom had located the current 'owner' and managed to borrow the vehicle for this particular expedition.

He would just return the car in the morning. The 'owner' was within the capital anyway. No emergency.

After a few tricky maneuvers, the Corolla finally managed to get back into the main stream of traffic from the hidden alleyway. Then it melded completely and vanished within the multitude of cars.

-----------

A/N: So, there it is. I forgot to mention last note that half of the credit of the title belongs to Fyrepen33; the author helped me out of that jam when I decided that the working title wasn't going to work, but I wanted something similar to it. Until next time then! :)


	3. Major Cromwell

Three

Major Cromwell

Alexis awoke the next morning to find the military base in a state of chaos. Footsteps and muffled sounds were heard through the walls, and even her roommate, a quirky rookie named Grace Thorpe, was already awake and moving around. Usually, it was Grace who tried to sleep in while Alexis was the first one up. "Where's the fire?" Alexis asked after she rubbed the bleariness out of her eyes and propped herself up onto her elbow. Her head was pounding; okay so maybe she did stay up later than usual last night on the phone talking first with Tyrone, then Riley. She had spoken with the latter only to tell him to cut back on spreading around 401st – related stories. Riley however then asked if she was meaning to keep her 'affair' with Stryker Davis quiet from her current boyfriend. He had been guessing when he said that, fishing around to see if she really was dating again, but she had hung up on him anyway after that remark.

"Captain?"

She looked up to find Grace giving her an odd look. "I'm sorry Grace, what did you say?" she asked, sitting upright in bed while rubbing her head. She had to stop reminiscing while in conversation… it was distracting for both her and whomever she was speaking with.

"I said that the reason for the chaos today is that there is a squadron that came home from overseas. Plus, the VIPs decided to have preliminary talks here and at the Pentagon for some huge panel thing that is at the end of the week. The panel itself is going to be at the Pentagon," Grace explained, a tinge of pride in her voice. Alexis suspected that the reason for the pride was that Grace knew information before a superior officer did. "In the meantime, there's going to be a head count to determine who is still stationed here and not in the hospital, supposedly to help Mr. Thayer get an idea of who is where. So the rest of us have to be present and appear 'presentable'," Grace finished, deflating at the thought of wearing a dress uniform for several hours.

'_Well, there goes our plans for the day,'_ Alexis thought sourly but smiled for Grace's sake. Aloud, she said, "Well, we shouldn't keep them waiting then. There is nothing worse than a superior officer who has to wait for a straggler." She slipped out of bed and headed to the closet, opened the door, rooted through for her dress uniform. She wondered how Tyrone would figure out the events for today, seeing that he rarely answered the apartment phone, didn't own an answering machine, and was very secretive about his cell phone number. Alexis was only one of three people outside his family to have the number in their possession.

After fixing the final touches to her appearance, she checked Grace over as a favor. The VIPs was an informal code word for high-ranking officials, and in Alexis's opinion, they easily became peeved when a mere insignia was out of place by accident or on purpose (although Alexis couldn't think of a good reason to forget something on purpose other than to irritate a superior about it). The younger pilots were given the hardest times about incorrect insignia.

After the two of them were prepared, they headed out to the main corridor, Alexis looking to round up her pilots, Grace looking to find her squadron.

The hall was busy. Personnel, some in uniform, some not, were scurrying around to ensure that the last minute touch-ups were finished and ensuring that everything was prepared. Judging from their actions, Alexis guessed that the Secretary of Defense was coming to join in the first round of preliminary talks… which meant the situation was more serious than they were letting on to the public.p

Alexis let out a huff of impatience. It had actually been frustrating to see what excuses the national governments came up for the recent worldwide events. A toxic spill that had gotten way out of hand in Shanghai, an American movie studio being sued for everything it was worth just for putting up frightening images of a metal-fire robot on the air, a faux industrial company being shut down due to 'out-of-control' experiments in France, and terrorists acting up again in Jordan. The only grain of truth in any of the stories was that the terrorists in Jordan were the same group that had attacked Mission City two years prior. The United States had put out bounties for any information for the terrorists, but it was just a front to reassure the public.

The truth would reflect the governments poorly in the sense that they failed to prevent another incident from happening when they knew what they were up against.

"Captain."

She looked up and smiled as Tyrone appeared in front of her, all dressed up as well. He kissed her lightly on the nose, and then asked quietly, "You love me don't you?"

"Yeah, but not enough to pull any favors for you," she replied. "I still remember San Diego."

Tyrone grinned and said, "That was fun, captain. You didn't have to pull me out of trouble with the bosses; it's not my fault that police officers have temper tantrums while on the job."

"Yeah, but it was your fault when you shot the tires to slow the cop down after irritating him in the first place," she reminded him. No need to tell him the truth about his near-death encounter with Barricade six months ago in southern California. He was probably better off not knowing that the cop that targeted him was really a pissed-off Decepticon in disguise. "So, what do you need now?" she asked, reminding him of his original request.

"Oh yeah, I need you to protect me from this guy who I accidentally bumped into on my way in. Then I ignored him because I thought he was being a jerk. In my defense, I didn't see his rank," Tyrone muttered, moving around Alexis so that she became his temporary shield.

"Ahem."

Alexis looked up and nearly stepped back in surprise. A tall man had somehow appeared in the ten seconds she had looked away. He carried the rank of major, and his navy blue uniform carried several insignias, but had no medals. He did however have the now-familiar symbol of the deceased Sector Seven on his upper right arm, and Alexis made a mental note to inquire into that. The man's stormy expression reminded Alexis of Starscream's bad-mood expression, and the similarity was so frightening that Alexis double-checked to make sure that it wasn't Starscream's hologram standing before her now. While similar, there were obvious physical distinctions between the two… and there was the fact the major didn't recognize her or hadn't dropped a snide remark yet.

"How may I help you, sir?" she asked respectfully.

The major narrowed his dark eyes in suspicion towards her. "Your… subordinate merely needs to learn some _respect_ for his superiors," the major finally hissed, keeping his voice low since there was a pack of pilots nearby, and evidently he wanted to keep his business private. His eyes bored into Alexis's as he added, "I have little tolerance for petty acts of insubordination. If you do not straighten him out, I will report you both to General Farthingale… and yes, he is within the premises." The major tilted his head at Alexis and asked, "Do you understand me perfectly?"

"Yes, sir," she replied, working to maintain an even voice despite the fact that the major was doing a good job intimidating her. "I can promise that Lieutenant Maxwell won't be a problem again…"

"If I were you," the major interrupted coldly, "I wouldn't make promises that are not only concern others that you have no control over, but promises you cannot keep. You cannot predict what he is going to do next, and I don't care how close the two of you are." He flicked a cold glance at Tyrone, and then said, "Good day, captain. Make sure this does not happen again." With those departing words, the major turned on his heel and walked away, melding back into the main flow of corridor traffic, leaving a slightly baffled Alexis in his wake.

"So, not only is he a jerk and a tattle-tale, but a _major_ pain in the ass," Tyrone said, moving around Alexis after the major had disappeared around the corner. "Get it, captain? _Major?_ It's his rank and also an adjective meaning more than half…"

"That was terrible," Alexis told him, her face twitching before she schooled it into a more serious expression. "That was a terrible joke, and a terrible thing to say about a man who looked like he wanted to slaughter you right here and now…" She looked in the direction the man had disappeared and said, "Who is he anyway? He didn't have a nameplate."

"I don't know, but I do know he's never served in the Massachusetts division… I would have recognized him if he did," Tyrone said, looking down at her.

"Did you see the Sector Seven badge on his arm?" Alexis asked, looking nervously up at Tyrone. Her past experiences with Sector Seven had been less than… friendly.

"Sector what-now?" Tyrone asked, looking genuinely confused at her. "Did you pick that up somewhere? Or worse, have you been raiding Lucky's comic book stash lately or something?" he asked in all seriousness.

"I thought we burned that after we determined the books were giving him nightmares," Alexis said, frowning. She looked at Tyrone quizzically and said, "Unless there's been something you want to say about it…"

"No, ma'am. It has been taken care of, I mean, it's not like we just hid the books or something because we didn't have the guts to burn it…" Tyrone admitted, scratching his head in the nervous manner that Alexis found cute. "But besides all that, what's Sector Seven?"

"One of the meanest, nastiest, government groups ever to grace the earth," a male voice cut in before Alexis could answer. She turned to see man wearing a captain's insignia walking up to them. Tyrone inched closer to Alexis as though to make it clear to the intruder that she was already spoken for. The stranger grinned, and said, "Name's Captain James Mareski of the 217th. Preston right?" He gestured to her with his chin as he spoke.

"Yeah… you're Ari's commander right? She mentioned you in a letter once or twice. Is she here?" Alexis said, elbowing Tyrone to encourage him to back off a bit so he wasn't looking like he was over-protective of her.

"All good things I hope. We just landed this morning, and we've already had our fair share of in-rank fights," Mareski said, glancing in the direction that the major had left in. He looked back at her and said, "Sorry, but Ari isn't here. It's kind of a long story, but she's okay," he quickly added when Alexis began to look alarmed.

"Well, where is she?" Alexis asked, trying to stamp down her panic.

Mareski sighed, and said, "It's kind of a long story, but it began on New Year's. You probably heard all about it."

"No," Alexis interrupted. "I was just given a brief summary." That was the truth; Ari had just mentioned that she'd met the Autobots after a certain 'incident' with Decepticons on New Year's. "What do you know about it?" she asked curiously.

Mareski let out a slow breath. "Like I said, it began on New Year's. We were snowed in at London, and there was this guy who wanted one of the pilots to do a delivery run with this… _box_ and Ari opened her big mouth and 'volunteered' to do it. So she goes out with this little handgun for personal safety, and of course the guy won't tell me why she would need it. Next thing I know, I get a phone call from her and she's in the hospital because she got into some car accident involving ice. When I get there, she's all tight-lipped about the accident itself," he explained, and Alexis could sense his frustration. "Then, we were stationed so that we could go into Jordan as a quick backup to provide support so more reinforcements could show up, but we were never needed. Finally, National Security Advisor Galloway took Ari and three other pilots to some special mission while sending the rest of us back to the United States."

"That's odd," Tyrone said while Alexis nodded. She had a suspicion that wherever Ari had been sent was the same place where the Autobots had been hiding for the last two years. Alexis wasn't too concerned; Ari needed some one-on-one time with the Autobots to adjust to their presence better. Tyrone looked at Mareski and asked, "What makes you so sure that New Year's started it all?"

"Because she became quieter and more skittish around vehicles after that. Took me and my companion about an hour to convince her that there was nothing wrong with the double-decker bus we were going to take," Mareski said, meeting Tyrone's gaze. "Look at me and tell me that isn't skittish behavior."

Tyrone looked at Mareski and said, "That isn't skittish behavior... that's paranoia taken to the extreme."

"You know, I actually came over to congratulate you both on surviving your first encounter with Major Tegan Cromwell," Mareski said, changing the subject and looking at Alexis. "When he first met the members of my squadron and myself, one of the pilots picked a fight with the lieutenant that hangs around with him and ended up almost unconscious with a broken nose." Seeing Tyrone's confusion, Mareski added, "The major's the guy you blatantly disrespected earlier, and probably scared you, ma'am."

"I think he's referring to the _major _pain in the…" Tyrone began, but Alexis elbowed him in the gut to prevent the repeat of the terrible joke.

"Was that Cromwell? I don't think I've heard of him before," Alexis said, frowning. "I thought I knew most of the superiors too."

"I wouldn't be surprised. You two want to hear a ghost story about Cromwell?" Mareski asked, and Tyrone nodded. Alexis rolled her eyes but waited to hear the story anyway. Satisfied he had their attention, Mareski said, "Well, I'll make it short and sweet. Cromwell was a captain serving at Nellis Air Force base back in 2003, but his F-22 suffered a system failure while in flight, and he crashed into the cliffs. The fire from the fuel tanks had burned away all traces of evidence except for melted metal on the rocks. He disappeared completely after that. It wasn't until _after_ the Jordan fiasco a couple weeks ago did he show up in the Middle East where we were stationed, his SIC close behind. He and his lieutenant lackey joined us on the way back to the States, and they are _both_ something to steer clear of. So basically, Cromwell went underground after the crash, a staged accident, so that he could continue to work for Sector Seven undisturbed."

"That's not scary," Lucky, one of Alexis's pilots, said, popping up in between Tyrone and Alexis. "Where are the ghosts, man? You promised there would be ghosts!"

Mareski narrowed his eyes and leaned down slightly to face Lucky in the eye. "When we landed here in the States, he got out of the jet, and then simply _vanished_ into the thin air," he said, keeping his voice low and ominous. Lucky paled at the news and swiftly retreated from sight. "I made that last part up, Cromwell really didn't do that," Mareski said, watching Lucky's hasty retreat.

"Sector Seven better not be regrouping," Alexis said calmly, thinking back the last time they had regrouped to cause another mess. She began walking with Mareski towards the center of the base, Tyrone close behind. "Where did you get Cromwell's story anyway?" she asked.

"Off his record in the database. Sector Seven can't be regrouping, or the major wouldn't have openly declared his allegiance to them. Besides, those guys have been dropping off the map in the last two years," Mareski said, looking at her. "They must have never liked being in the national spotlight after years of hiding under rocks…"

"Don't know about you guys, but can we ease up on the Doomsday talk?" Tyrone asked, coming around to walk at Alexis's side. "It's kind of depressing to hear about conspiracies right after an international attack."

"All right. Preston, are you going to bring Maxwell as your partner to the panel? The panel leaders decided to allow each officer to bring in a 'partner' so to speak, really an eyewitness in case accusations start being thrown around. The partner can speak up then and help defend the accused if necessary," Mareski said, walking at the leisurely pace of a man who knew the superiors were nowhere in sight.

"Didn't hear of that development, but I guess I will on the condition that he promises to keep his mouth shut," Alexis said, winking at Tyrone who pretended to look wounded. "Whom are you bringing?" she asked, turning back to Mareski.

He shrugged. "Probably _my _second-in-command, don't know who else would have been a reliable eyewitness," he said, casting a glance down the hall. "I'll see you later, captain. You and I both don't want to encounter the major together, so I'll spare you since he's probably coming for me." Alexis looked up, and grimaced when she spotted the grim major approaching. "See you later," Mareski muttered before leaving them.

Alexis watched as the captain easily intercepted the major, and the pair headed down the way that Cromwell had been coming from.

"I don't like that guy, Cromwell," Tyrone finally said once the aforementioned man was out of sight. "Too… uptight." He looked down at Alexis and asked, "Did Ari mention where she was stationed in her last letter?"

"Yeah… she'll be okay. She said she was stationed in the naval base in the East China Sea, so she'll get some quality time with our former commander. It would be nice to see her again though," Alexis said, walking around a knot of pilots in the corridor. Tyrone stayed right beside her the entire time. "Hey, I was thinking. Maybe we can get out of the capital after the panel… get away from current events and all that."

"I like the sound of that," Tyrone said, pulling her in for a hug. "Alexis, it's going to be cool. Just wait and see. After things calm down with Jordan, we'll get back to our normal routines and everything will be fine."

Alexis pulled away and looked up at him. She couldn't tell him that she was nervous because a gathering of the leaders in the nation's military was a tempting target for Decepticons, and one too hard to ignore. Swallowing her unease and locking her paranoia away in her mind, she stepped back and glanced around to see if anyone had been staring.

"You know, if someone did try to mess this meeting up, Cromwell will probably whip their ass so bad they'll think twice before coming back," Tyrone reminded her. "He looks like a capable fighter."

"Speaking of the major, I'm guessing that he's going to bring his lieutenant to the meeting, so don't pick a fight with him okay?" Alexis asked, putting on a hopeful expression.

"Very well… assuming he doesn't try to catch my lady," Tyrone replied, kissing her softly on the forehead. "If he does that, I'll show you what my left hook is like…"

"Seriously. Leave the lieutenant alone unless you want the full weight of Cromwell's wrath on you. Besides, you could do with a little healthy competition," Alexis said, winking at him.

"I'm a sore loser, captain," Tyrone warned playfully as she began to walk away. He scowled when she intentionally ignored him, and then said, "Now you're asking for it." She merely laughed at him and continued walking forward.

The two of them headed to the main center of the base, Alexis grabbing a few uniform collars of her pilots when they didn't obey her for some reason or another. She had been unusually lax on them lately; if she didn't get them back into shape before too long, then a superior officer was going to beat her to the punch and she would feel the effects from that encounter. Alexis could list all the nasty encounters with superiors on one hand so far, and she would rather that it stayed that way. Of course, this would mean that Tyrone Maxwell would have to be a little more careful about what he said from now on, seeing that he took the First Amendment to heart on a daily basis. He only controlled his speech when Alexis told him that he was in danger of getting a smack-down from a higher officer just because he had said something... less than positive.

That was how the incident in San Diego started. The two of them had been on leave. Alexis had spotted the distinctive cruiser number first, and tried to discreetly steer Tyrone away from the car without him noticing. As luck would have it, Tyrone made a critical remark about the cruiser driver's stupidity to park in a fire zone and walk away, and then say it right as they were passing. Barricade apparently was in a foul mood to begin with, and lashed out at them only because they were the closest offenders.

She hadn't seen the Decepticon since.

"Okay guys, it's going to be a headcount, nothing fancy. Then you can get back to your very important work," she said, mentally counting each one off. Lucky was the only one missing. "Where's Lucky?" she asked.

"Love your concern, captain," one of the others, Lucky's flight partner, said while winking. He looked past her shoulder, frowned, and then asked, "Who is the stiff in the uniform?"

Alexis glanced over her shoulder and sighed. "That's Major Cromwell," she said, looking back while elbowing Tyrone in the ribs as he opened his mouth. "If there is one, the 'stiff' next to him might be his right-hand man. Don't pick fights with either of them, and we're good to go," she said in a pleasant tone. "I can only save you guys from insubordination charges one at a time."

"At least you'd make the effort," Lucky's flight partner observed. He glanced off to the side and said, "Here comes the squadron eyas." Scowling at the nickname, Lucky squished himself in between his flight partner and Tyrone while Alexis finally ensured that everyone was present.

"I do _not_ act like an infant!" Lucky hissed under his breath to his flight partner, who shrugged. Then they both straightened at the approached of the 'ultimate boss'.

Chief of Staff Joseph Thayer walked down the rows, looking somewhat fatigued. He nodded briefly in Alexis's direction, and then continued scanning the available personnel, Cromwell joining him in the walk and shadowing him. Alexis noted that Cromwell was alone, and surmised that the right-hand man was somewhere else. Cromwell meanwhile seemed to be enjoying the current favor from the chief of staff.

"Here's the battleground, and here are the fighters," Tyrone muttered after both the major and chief of staff had walked by. "In the meeting at the end of the week, it's probably going to be every man, or woman, for themselves once somebody, likely to be Cromwell, starts throwing accusations around." He looked at her and said, "Not every battle you're going to be fighting is going to be in the air with an identifiable enemy right in front of you. You got to keep an eye out for the sneaky ones, like Cromwell. I really don't like him at all."

"Leave the man alone, and you're good to go," Alexis snapped, trying to rein her irritation.

Tyrone looked at her, and then asked, "Is it me, Cromwell or Lucky that's bothering you right now? Something has got you irritated." He put on a slightly hurt expression, knowing that he would win her over with it.

"Lucky, you, and Cromwell in that order," she replied, grinning in spite of herself at Tyrone's wounded expression. "Although Lucky's behavior is mild compared to what I've encountered before with an old comrade Tyler Collins..." she added, implicating that Tyrone was the worst irritant at the moment. She laughed slightly and ducked as Tyrone faked a swing at her head, and then straightened as Tyrone muttered something dark about women in general. She glanced at Cromwell anyway, when his back was turned to her. Something didn't sit right with her about him.

That alone made her wary.

--------------

A/N: Just to explain one little thing, an 'eyas' is a baby hawk.


	4. Newsflash

Four

Newsflash

'_U.S. NAVAL BASE GAS LEAK TURNS DEADLY: NO FATALITIES' _screamed the headline of the _Washington Times_ the following morning. The headline came complete with large and detailed photographs of the incident, as well as the beginnings of a long article. Alexis raised an eyebrow at the image of the destroyed hangars but began to read the story anyway. Sometime during the day yesterday, the naval base near southeastern China had sprung a leak in one of the main fuel lines. The dripping fuel had eventually created a puddle on top of an electrical conduit, where one stray spark had ignited a fire that grew several times its original size within seconds, using the fuel lines to shoot up through the walls and straight into a connecting line. Normally, the fire's path would have ended there, but the line had been opened and connected to a F-22 fuel tank… essentially creating a giant bomb. The shards from the first explosion had ripped the second F-22 open, exposing more explosive material. In the end, the entire south hangar had been ripped from the base itself and fallen into the ocean waters below it. Miraculously, there had been no deaths, seeing that there had only been two to three maintenance workers plus a few others in the hangar at the time and they had just gone for an 'impromptu midnight swim' as the paper put it.

There was one little fact that sent up a little red warning flag. Both commanding officers at the base, US Navy Vice Admiral Benson and USAF Colonel Stanton, had declined to comment on the poor maintenance of the fuel lines, or on the entire accident itself. Beyond the news story and the report apparently submitted to the Department of Defense, neither commander was saying anything else.

Alexis sighed and rubbed her head after putting the paper flat on the table. She was too tired to be reading this sort of news and over-analyzing it. After the squadrons had been disbanded yesterday, she and Tyrone had managed to escape to the city outskirts and spent most of the afternoon in a park. She had fallen asleep immediately that night from exhaustion, and so she was still groggy at the moment.

"What's new?" Tyrone asked, slipping into the empty spot across the mess hall table from her. Alexis jerked at his voice, and he laughed at her bewildered expression

Alexis chuckled a bit to humor him, and then could only stare at him in amazement… he actually had his dress uniform on when it wasn't necessary. "You're actually here for breakfast even though you said you hated it?" she asked. "Did the landlady evict you or something because you didn't pay rent?"

"I still do hate the food here," Tyrone said, indicating the Dunkin' Donuts bag he'd just set down. "And no, the landlady didn't evict me… I'm the only tenant she has who is reliable when it comes to rent paying," he added. He sipped his coffee, also purchased, and then asked again, "What's new?"

"Gas leak at a US naval base. Huge unexpected explosion," Alexis replied, pushing the paper towards him. "No deaths, just injuries," she added before taking another bite of breakfast.

"Plus a pissed-off colonel. She doesn't look too happy there… it's as though she's not used to being mad," Tyrone said, pointing to the small photo that Alexis had missed when reading the paper earlier. Alexis grimaced when she recognized the figure as a drenched Stanton. The colonel was still tense, and looked as though she was about to lose her temper with the non-uniformed, unfamiliar man at her side. The caption below the snapshot read that the colonel had been at the hangar entrance when the hangars finally fell into the water, and she had been counted as an 'impromptu swimmer'.

"Actually, she usually looks like that when she's in a foul mood," Alexis said before going back to the last of her breakfast. She looked up at Tyrone and then said, "You know, neither of us are needed today, so that means we can just do whatever we want within the city."

Tyrone visibly perked up at the thought. "That'll be something to look forward too," he said, pulling two doughnuts out of the bag. He looked up at her soberly and then said, "But I have business to take care of first… a necessary meeting."

Alexis pretended to look shocked. "My own second-in-command officer, Lieutenant Tyrone Maxwell, is actually going to a meeting even though he hates sitting through them?" she asked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"It's necessary for tomorrow, and no, I'm not going to start anything," Tyrone assured her, downing the last of his coffee in three gulps. "Then we can spend the rest of the day doing whatever, your call."

"Cool," she said, carefully masking her disappointment. Sure she was relieved that Tyrone was taking his duties seriously this time, but did he honestly have to choose the only day they were both free? Tomorrow, she, Mareski, and two others were going to a start a three-day run with two superior officers. It was just going to be two to three hour meetings focused on ensuring that everyone was going to be on the same page the day of the panel. Even though it was going to be short, Alexis couldn't help but wonder if something was going to interrupt what little time they did have. "Lunch at Marco's then?" she asked finally.

"Twelve-thirty sharp," Tyrone promised, standing up. He bent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "See you later," he whispered and then turned and walked away. Alexis leaned her chin on her fist and just sat there at the mess hall table ignoring her breakfast, just thinking and staring at nothing in particular

Tyrone tried not to look back as he walked away from the mess hall. He felt guilty for abandoning her and dashing her hopes like that, but this meeting was too important to cancel. Tyrone took a few deep breaths to calm his temper down… in order to conduct this meeting, he was going to have to get past Major Cromwell's mysterious and volatile lieutenant SIC.

The night before, Tyrone and a few other off-duty pilots had a few drinks at a popular hangout in DC. Captain Mareski had been among the three out of the fifteen attendees who had crossed the forbidden line and had gotten somewhat… drunk to the point where anything said aloud was hilarious to them. Then towards the end of the evening, Mareski ended up spilling new information on Cromwell, information that Tyrone had found not only interesting, but useful as well. According to Mareski, Cromwell had the lieutenant for the second-in-command, but also a few subordinates from his Sector Seven days for the other positions in the command structure. Gaining favor from the major for newcomers wasn't hard… usually. Tyrone was on a mission to make amends with the major, and maybe even convince him that either Alexis or himself could be a valuable ally.

The catch however, Mareski had also warned, was that they needed the lieutenant's approval first… the same lieutenant who had caused physical harm to one of Mareski's pilots.

Tyrone straightened his posture, and then continued walking while he pulled out a slip of paper that had the major's office number and the time of the appointment. Alexis would forgive Tyrone for attempting this once he made her time with the major later this week easier for her… her stress levels seemed to have increased significantly ever since the incident in Jordan. She didn't need a temperamental major to make it worse.

Tyrone hesitated once he arrived to the featureless door. He could always cancel; Alexis was right when she said that he hated sitting through meetings… he tended to avoid them at all costs.

Right as he made up his mind to walk away, the door opened. Startled, he jumped back and looked at who had opened the door.

A man wearing a lieutenant's insignia looked disapprovingly at him. He was dressed in a similar navy uniform as the major, complete with the Sector Seven patch on the right armband. But what caught Tyrone's attention was the light blue seal on the top right of the man's uniform.

"He's expecting you," the man said shortly and coldly after his dark eyes had scanned Tyrone. Without another word, the man turned around and disappeared inside the office, Tyrone close behind. Tyrone didn't want to give the lieutenant another excuse to snap at him… this was pretty bad for a first impression already.

The office was just like any administrator's office. The walls were a cool red color, and there were a few prints framed on the wall, images of plants and animals from places around the world. One of the two non-nature images on the wall was of a woman holding a two or three-year old boy, and Tyrone could see what looked like red rock and blue sky behind the pair. The woman had her brown hair pulled back in a braid, and they were both wearing sunglasses although the boy's glasses were clearly too large for him.

Cromwell was sitting at the desk, alternating between a document and the computer. He looked up when Tyrone entered, then exited the program, and then put the document away into the desk. Without a word, he gestured for Tyrone to sit down. The lieutenant disappeared from sight briefly but reappeared behind the major's left shoulder. To be honest, Tyrone personally felt that he was under a powerful microscope at this point.

"So, um, Grand Canyon?" Tyrone guessed, gesturing to the photo on the wall. It was a vain attempt to break the silence and the ease the tension that he had been feeling since he walked in.

Cromwell looked at the photograph, and Tyrone swore that a wistful look had crossed the major's otherwise stone facial expression. "Yes, my family and I went to the Grand Canyon back in 2002, before I went back to duty," Cromwell said softly, suddenly dropping the tough-guy act. "I have not seen my wife or son since."

"Why not?" Tyrone asked, curious despite himself. As he watched from the corner of his eye, he noticed that the lieutenant was watching the speaker, his head turning at each turn of the conversation.

Cromwell sighed, and said, "I never told her about my work with Sector Seven, just to protect her and my son. In 2003, I was ordered to go underground to continue working, so I had to stage the accident at Nellis to escape." He looked up at Tyrone, who was surprised to see a sorrowful look on the major's face. "I attended the memorial, in the back of the audience," the major said quietly. "I almost blew the mission right then and there; I had never seen her so upset before. Leaving her was one of the hardest things I had ever done in my career."

"Why not call her now?" Tyrone asked, feeling like a child who was learning the ways of the world for the first time.

Cromwell shrugged. "I tried. The number had been terminated. I don't know where she is now," he said, straightening in his seat. "Now, what was it that you wanted to see me about ?" he asked, facing Tyrone. The lieutenant behind him relaxed infinitesimally as though satisfied that they were finally getting down to business.

"Just to apologize, sir," Tyrone began slowly.

"Who are you again?" Cromwell interrupted, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Tyrone gulped and then said, "First Lieutenant Tyrone Maxwell, sir. I, uh, bumped into you yesterday and you confronted my captain about it." He was glad that Cromwell couldn't tell how nervous he'd suddenly become lest the major decide to exploit his nervousness.

"If you want to know what I think, I thought it was more of a rude shove," the lieutenant remarked, volunteering his opinion even though Tyrone personally didn't care about it. The lieutenant looked at the major and said, "I also think that you let him off rather easily for that… transgression."

"With all due respect, _lieutenant,_" Tyrone cut in before the major could speak. "I think you're unusually chatty for a _subordinate_ who, traditionally speaking, has no right to interfere with his superior's business."

That struck a nerve. The lieutenant stretched to his full height and went rigid, jaw twitching from the effort of repressing swift vengeance. Tyrone now knew that the lieutenant probably considered himself to be equal to the rank of captain, and took offense when someone reminded him of his lower status. The major on the other hand had found the exchange humorous, and was half-repressing a laugh. Offended by the laughter, the lieutenant finally stalked out of the room altogether, the door closing behind him with a sharp snap.

"So as I was saying, I am sorry for bumping into you yesterday. I did not realize your rank until _after _you were chasing me, and by that time, I was kind of freaked out… sir," Tyrone explained, remembering the proper address in time.

Instead of reacting drastically, the major merely nodded in acknowledgement. "I accept your apology. You are fortunate to have a captain who is a skilled negotiator, or I would have taken you to Farthingale immediately," he said calmly. He looked at Tyrone and said, "You care for her very much don't you?"

"Yes, sir," Tyrone admitted. "I've known her for about a year and a half, and what you saw yesterday was a much better person when than what she was when she first joined us in March of last year. She was… I don't know, quiet and not very trusting then. Her problem was that she kept over-analyzing anything anyone said to her." Tyrone relaxed in the chair, feeling more comfortable than when he first entered the office.

"In that case, she seems to have healed from whatever has happened the past," the major observed. "She seems to be a lucky find, and if I were you, I wouldn't let an opportunity like that slip past."

"Thank you, sir," Tyrone said, grinning.

The major checked the clock and said, "I hate to cut this short, but I have to be elsewhere in a few minutes." He tilted his head and said, "Thank you Lieutenant Maxwell for your apology. You may be dismissed."

"Thank you, sir," Tyrone said, and stood up to leave. He may have not secured Cromwell's favor or support, but at least he knew that Alexis was a possible candidate for another ally.

Cromwell watched in silence as Maxwell left the room, shutting the door behind him. He sighed and then stood up as his second-in-command materialized from the only dark corner of the room. Cromwell walked to the other side of the desk as his right-hand man took the computer chair. "Not going to mince words… that was painful to watch," the man said, breaking the silence between them.

Cromwell leaned against the doorframe and checked to ensure the door was securely locked before letting the last of his laughs out. He ignored the scowl from the SIC, who had paused in his work on the computer to glare at the major. "You only think that was funny because it wasn't aimed at you," the lieutenant growled.

"Actually, I thought it was entertaining because it may not describe you, but more of one of the missing comrades," Cromwell said, looking at the lieutenant, who nodded thoughtfully.

There was a moment of silence as both men let the insult absorb. The lieutenant scowled again and snapped, "Well, enjoy it while you can. I'll make you regret it later."

This had the opposite effect than the lieutenant intended, and he muttered profanities to himself as he continued working on the computer while the major released the last few chuckles. There was silence between them, and then the major said, "You were right, this is tiring."

"I told you that it was better to stay in the Middle East so we would be in one place and not risking our cover with potential witnesses," the lieutenant shot back. "Perhaps I should have reinforced my opinion a little better."

"I still think it was too risky to stay… he would have expected you to stay in one place and not come here where you already have a track record," Cromwell disagreed, looking at the lieutenant. "In the Middle East, you asked for what I thought, and based upon what you told me, I thought you had a better chance of surviving out here."

"More importantly, _you_ have a better chance out here for a semi-permanent home," the lieutenant reminded him. "_I_ have to go back at some point and put up with him some more. He'll get suspicious if I don't go back soon."

Cromwell reined in his irritation and then asked, "What of the 'allies' you said you had here? Where are they?"

"Not sure. This is the first time I actually came into this facility. I want to use the Air Force database to see who is here, so it will save us both the time and trouble," the lieutenant reminded him. "However, I am sure that they will help."

"How sure?" Cromwell asked suspiciously.

"Damn sure," the lieutenant muttered, accessing another program. The USAF logo suddenly appeared on the screen, and the lieutenant entered Cromwell's username and password into the appropriate boxes, and then continued working. "Did you ever get the captain's name from Maxwell?" he suddenly asked.

"No. What are you doing?" Cromwell finally asked, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

"Fixing a few things. Did you get any feedback yet from the others?" the lieutenant asked, still working on the computer.

"Yes. Everyone is prepared and everything is in place," Cromwell answered, staring at the photograph of the smiling woman and boy. "How much longer will this be necessary?" he asked, still looking at the woman in particular.

"Not for much longer," First Lieutenant Stryker Davis said, leaning back in the chair seat. Smiling now, he flicked a glance at Cromwell and said, "Tomorrow, the real fun begins… trust me."

Major Cromwell thought about it for a moment, and then nodded.

------------

The real fun was about to begin for someone else too, someone several hundred miles north of Washington DC.

The Aviator's Café was a bustling place of activity, even in mid-morning. Images of countless types of airplanes and pilots, both civilian and military, adorned the bamboo-hued walls. While it was located in a bustling part of Worcester, Massachusetts, there were plenty of regular customers to the point where the owner, Amalia Roxbury, could greet each person by name and ask about how so-and-so was doing, or congratulate someone else on the addition of a new family member. The café came highly recommended to tourists, so the place was crazier in the summertime.

None of that made any difference to five-year-old Maisy Roxbury as she wandered through the restaurant looking for her mother or her father… whoever she found first, but preferably her father. She paused to look at a vivid image of a wrecked building on the front page of a newspaper that a customer was too busy reading to notice her. Maisy shook her head disapprovingly. Didn't people in the world know how to share and not fight so much? That way, a lot less things in the world would be broken.

She weaved her way in and out of the waiters and customers in the aisle. The waiters were tricky; she was too small for them to notice her in time to avoid a spill, so she had to respect them and get out of their way. She didn't like the waiters… most of them were not much older than herself. Her mother didn't like them either… something about 'clumsy idiots'.

"Mommy?" she asked once she arrived to the cash register. She discreetly elbowed the customer out of the way so she could get to her mother faster. "Mommy, where's Daddy?"

Amalia looked flustered as she found her daughter at her side. "Maisy, I don't know where Daddy is… probably hiding again," she said as she counted the customer's change, the last part of her sentence disappearing into a mutter. "When he wants to, he'll show up. Why do you want him?"

"Because I think his private phone is making that beeping sound again. I think it's either broken or it's going to blow up soon," Maisy said in a serious tone.

Before Amalia could ask for clarification, a shrill beeping sound cut across the din of the restaurant. She swore aloud and abandoned the register, ignoring the shocked customer. She didn't have to worry about the waiters; once they saw the five-month pregnant owner of the restaurant coming, they cleared out of her way pretty fast. She swore again as she picked up her husband's neglected cell phone, which had been sitting on the windowsill. "Hello?" she asked into the phone, her eyes scouring the restaurant for her husband. She knew he was in the establishment… his favorite Jeep was in the parking lot in the employees' section.

"_**Is Lucas Roxbury there? This is an old friend of his… Tobias Jackson."**_

"No, he's hiding in the cellar again," Amalia said, guessing that was her husband's location since she didn't see the lazy idiot anywhere in sight. "Gimme a sec," she said, and then lowered the phone. "Maisy! Bring the phone to the cellar door!" she ordered as her daughter came running up to her.

"Yes, Mommy," the child said before taking the phone to the cellar door, which was in the back of the kitchen. She used a tiny fist to knock, and then she shouted, "Daddy, the phone!"

There were a few moments of silence, and then the door opened to reveal her father. Lucas Roxbury looked tiredly down at his daughter before accepting the phone. "Thank you sweetheart… now go help your mother," he said before shutting the door again.

Inside, Lucas walked down the steps as he answered the phone. "Lucas here," he said, running a worn hand through his hair.

"_**Lucas? It's me, Tobias."**_

Lucas chuckled at the sound of his old friend's voice. "Good to hear you again Jackson. What's up? You need to come down to Massachusetts and visit sometime," he said, sitting down at his workbench/desk.

"_**I would if I wasn't in prison,**_" Tobias replied, and Lucas frowned and sat up. Before he could ask, Tobias said, _**"It's a long story, but to make it short, I helped some comrades push a government administrator out of a C-17… not literally, I just helped by faking engine trouble."**_

Lucas snorted in amusement, his earlier dark musings temporarily forgotten. "That's ingenious… we've should have faked engine trouble that one time the four-oh-first had to escort Simmons to Los Angeles in '04…" he remarked.

"_**Look, forget about engine failure for a moment. How much do you know about NEST?"**_ Tobias asked, and Lucas couldn't tell if his friend was irritated or simply impatient to get the main message to him.

"If you tell me what it stands for, then there is an infinitesimally small chance that I have some remote chance of understanding," Lucas said, leaning back in his chair. "In other words, I've never heard of the acronym before. Is it a government group or a new sports team that's just formed?"

Tobias was silent for a few seconds. _**"You're still wallowing in guilt for something that's long gone aren't you? That's why you're, um, still a bit out of touch with reality, right?"**_ he asked. _**"Are you still hiding out in that cellar you showed me around the last time we got together?"**_

"What do you want Jackson?" Lucas snapped irritably. "And I don't hide out in the cellar that much anymore, not after Mission City," he quickly added, an impromptu defense for his activities.

"_**I need you to do a jailbreak for me, a friend or two… um, maybe a few vehicles, and no questions asked. Do you still remember how to fly a C-17?"**_ Tobias asked, and Lucas heard a shuffling sound in the background.

"Do the cars need to be unlocked?" Lucas asked, his eyes subconsciously straying to the newest addition to the cellar, which was a large wooden partition cutting off a section of the room.

"_**I don't know how bad security is… why, you think you know how to do it?"**_ Tobias asked curiously.

"I don't, but I know someone who can," Lucas said calmly. "So, bail you out. Got it. Do I get any help, or can I pick my helpers?"

"_**No. Write the following names down,"**_ Tobias instructed, and Lucas pulled out a notepad. He scribbled down the set of five names, and then tossed the pencil off to the side. He studied the names.

"Are they all American and therefore easy to find?" he asked, suddenly wary of the fact that he may have to do some extensive traveling.

"_**No, and they are all easy to find. Four are American, one is British. The British contact knows the location you'll be flying the C-17 to. I don't know where the specific location of any of the five… Mr. Keller might know."**_

"Who's Keller?" Lucas asked curiously, knowing that he was probably asking a dumb question.

There was a moment of silence. _**"Okay, now I know you've been hiding in the cellar too long. Keller was the Secretary of Defense under the last administration,"**_ Tobias said dryly. _**"I have to go… the guard's beginning to look at me suspiciously. Just get those people, get down here, bust us out, and then you can get back to your life… assuming you have one."**_

"I don't have to come and get you, you know," Lucas reminded his friend crossly. "I have a daughter and expecting wife to take care of."

"_**Sorry… see you soon then. Bye.**_"

Lucas flipped his phone shut and then sat in contemplative silence. His wife used to fly small planes when she was younger, and took those memories to heart when she'd named and decorated the family restaurant. But what she didn't know was that Lucas himself used to be a pilot, an Air Force captain to be exact. Nobody who frequented the café knew that, they just knew him as Amalia's sometimes absent yet constantly devoted husband. Hell, he used to serve under General Stanton in the infamous 401st. He'd only resigned after Oroville in 2005 after he'd gotten the gut feeling that it was probably better to lay low and duck down for the oncoming years and the approaching trouble. The pilot Thompson had replaced him. Lucas had been plagued with deep guilt after the Mission City disaster, knowing that he should have been out there with his teammates instead of hiding out in the Northeast. After hearing of Thompson's death, he knew he had felt sorry for whoever replaced him… Lucas was convinced that bad things usually befell whoever held the captain's rank within the 401st. Then when Jordan happened, Lucas knew it was almost time for him to come out of hiding and pitch in.

Lucas decided not to dwell on that any longer. Amalia hated it when he was in one of those moods, and he knew the moods put great strains on the family. So he pretended like the past didn't happen the way it did.

There was a loud rattling sound from the partitioned part of the cellar. Lucas grimaced and said, "Sorry about that… I almost forgot all about you. I'll be right back." With those words, he jogged up the steps and slipped back into the kitchen. The few teenagers working in there didn't see him sneak past, steal a few sandwich ingredients, and then dart back into the cellar.

Lucas sighed as he constructed the sandwich, mentally debating if he should bail Jackson out or not. Doing so would probably drag him back into the military, but not doing it meant another six to twelve months of plaguing guilt.

"All right here you go... brunch," he said, walking over to the partition and unlocking the little door at the bottom of the wall. "I know you hate being in here, but it's for your own good." He quickly shoved the plate and food into the partitioned area, and the quickly shut the little door again before the receiver could cause problems. He rolled his eyes as he heard muffled curses on the other side, and then raised the little door so that the receiver could free the three fingers that had gotten trapped underneath the door.

When he went back to the list of people he'd left on the desk, he scanned it again. He was going to have to hire a few trusted helpers for the special cargo, some extra manpower, and another pilot for the C-17, or maybe even acquire a bigger plane. Well, he will do it. Find Keller, and the special five would follow. The others he would have to poke around Washington DC for... he didn't know where else to find pilots or helpers who were up for harebrained missions like the one he was about to embark on.

Lucas walked back to the main restaurant, wondering how the hell he was going to get started.

-------------

A/N: Dunkin' Donuts products aren't mine... belongs to the corporation itself.


	5. Reunions

Five

Reunions

"Lord, my head is killing me," Mareski groaned, applying pressure to his temples with his hands. He was also careful to keep his normally loud voice down so that neither of the two superiors in the vicinity, Chief of Staff Thayer and Major Cromwell, could hear his complaining. He turned to the right to face Alexis and whispered, "I think I have the mother of all headaches. Do you have a painkiller?"

"I think you just have the mother of all hangovers… Tyrone told me about your little drinking spree the night before last at lunch yesterday in Marco's" Alexis hissed back after checking that Thayer, who was seated the closest to them, was sufficiently distracted by the current speaker. It was now the fourth day before the panel, and also the first day that Thayer was getting a sense of the situation from the squadrons who had been abroad when the international 'scare' occurred. There were four other captains and one airman amongst them, the young airman being one of the three survivors of the _USS Lincoln_ catastrophe. Satisfied that the somewhat unusually subdued major wasn't paying them attention, Alexis whispered, "I don't feel sorry for you at all… in fact, I can't wait to see Cromwell's reaction when he finds out that you broke one of the oldest rules in the book…"

"Five mistakes in there Preston," Mareski interrupted. "One, Cromwell isn't my superior, Major Thornton is. Two, I'm not afraid of him or his second-in-command anymore…I flew with them for several long hours, remember? Three, when _I _first met them back at the base in the Middle East I didn't let them intimidate me. Four, he doesn't give a damn about what I do… said so himself when we got here two days ago. He's got his lieutenant to help him out. Finally, they don't do breathalyzer tests here. I'm not worried about getting caught."

"Ari would have taken you up on that," Alexis whispered back, checking Thayer briefly to make sure their conversation was still private. "Heck, I'll take you up on that for her."

"Not only a goody-two shoes, but a gambler as well," Mareski whispered back in an appreciative manner. "Maxwell knows how to score them…he'll have to help me find a girl like you…" Shaking his head and the last of the sentence off, he extended his hand underneath the table so that Thayer would not see it, and the pair of them shook on it. "I still want that Advil," Mareski added in a quick whisper as he pulled his hand back.

"Captain Preston, Mareski, is there something that needs to be shared with the group?" Cromwell of all people asked, eyeing the pair of them from where he was sitting. Alexis was horribly reminded about being back in grade school when the teacher would catch students whispering to one another. Thayer was also watching them now, his attention having been caught by Cromwell's question.

Before Mareski could stop her, Alexis put their gamble to the test. "Yes, sir. My colleague Mareski here hasn't been feeling well since he woke up this morning," she replied, meeting the major's steady gaze. Ever since Tyrone had cracked and confessed to the 'secret' meeting with the major, she had gotten the feeling that the major was not as threatening as her initial impression of him made him out to be.

Cromwell's steady dark gaze moved from her to Mareski, and then he asked, "Do you wish to elaborate, Captain Mareski?"

"Thank you, sir," Mareski said pleasantly. He leaned forward and adopted a sorrowful tone before saying, "You see sir, but I have been working late into the night ensuring that everyone in my squadron, including the missing ones, are doing well. It's very long and tiring work, but in the end it's rewarding. I haven't been doing frivolous activities such as going out on a date almost every night, unlike this certain person I happen to know…" He winked at Alexis for emphasis, but she just rolled her eyes in irritation.

"Very well, Captain. After this meeting concludes, I want you to go down to the medical wing and see a doctor. You only have five minutes left anyway. Then send me the diagnosis report. I wish to see for myself the problem," Cromwell said before reverting his attention back to the airman from the _Lincoln._

"Does excessive, illegal, drinking count as a frivolous activity?" Alexis whispered once Thayer began speaking again, her eyes twinkling.

"Ari would've been proud of you," Mareski shot back, and then tried to focus on Thayer, but ultimately failed. He turned back to Alexis and whispered, "So now that you've passed the major's temper, do you think you're up for his lieutenant SIC?"

"What's his name?" Alexis whispered back, keeping an eye on both Cromwell and Thayer this time. She would have never guessed it, but Cromwell had extremely sensitive hearing if he caught onto their conversation earlier.

"First Lieutenant something. His first name started with a 's', that's all I remember," Mareski muttered back. "Not much of a talker, more of a fighter. He would've made a crummy diplomat, so thank God he's in the military or America would have entered more international snarls because of the his sharp tongue." He too checked the major and chief of staff before saying, "The point is that he makes Cromwell look like a walk in the park sometimes. There's a rumor going around that he might actually exercise more of Cromwell's power than Cromwell does himself."

Alexis stared at him. "But that would require cooperation from Cromwell," she pointed out, momentarily forgetting to keep an eye on the superiors.

"Kind of makes you wary of them huh?" Mareski suggested. "The major might be able give Stanton a run for her money when it comes to being the scariest commanding officer in the Air Force after Thayer."

"Let's hope that competition never happens… someone is going to end up dead or in prison. It's happened before, it can happen again," Alexis said quietly. "Remember the news stories about Sector Seven's Ross Lynch after Mission City? She doesn't like jockeying for control very much."

Mareski nodded thoughtfully. "Honestly though. She's only one rank above him. _If _it came down to a fight to the death between the two, who would win?" he asked.

Alexis shrugged. "I need to meet Cromwell's 'scary' lieutenant first, and then I'll tell you what I think," she whispered back before focusing back on the last sixty seconds of the wrap-up. She gritted her teeth as Thayer dismissed them all, and then stood up to leave with Mareski. "Thanks. Now I'll have no idea what happened in the last ten minutes, all thanks to you and your 'headache'…" she said as they left the conference room, one of the first few out.

Mareski snickered as Tyrone appeared out of nowhere and joined them in the hall. "Now this is a time where I miss Motor Mouth… she would've been able to give us a play-by-play from the security cams since she hates being left out on these sort of things," he said, nodding a greeting to Tyrone.

"Join us for an early lunch, Mareski?" Tyrone offered, grinning for some unknown reason, a reason that Alexis suspected that Tyrone was going to be talking about later when they were in privacy.

"Hell no," Mareski said, pretending to look horrified. "Gotta see the doctor anyway… just you wait and see Preston. He's going to diagnose the hangover, and then Cromwell is going to be furious at me," he said, waving slightly as he began to leave.

"I thought you said you weren't afraid of him anymore," Alexis shouted after Mareski's retreating back.

Tyrone rolled his eyes at Mareski's inappropriate hand gesture, and then said, "Let's go find some more refined company for the afternoon, shall we?" He linked their arms together and she leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked with the exiting crowd towards the set of glass doors that would lead to the rest of the capital city.

"What have you been up to, getting into trouble?" she asked as they walked towards what looked like a snarl of people at the doors. After getting Mareski busted for the drinking, she wasn't in the mood to deal with any more authorities. Seeing the people ahead of them, she asked, "Did you do a prank or something?"

"Nope," Tyrone replied happily. "Just my good deed for the month." Seeing her puzzled look, he explained, "The major and I had a bit of an extra-curricular discussion yesterday, something I didn't want to tell you about until I was sure I could pull off what I wanted to do today."

"_Now_ I'm worried," Alexis murmured, managing to squeeze her way through the steadily growing crowd, Tyrone close behind her. "So what you're trying to tell me is that not only did you sit through a meeting with Cromwell, you actually did him a favor without saying anything?" She paused and looked at him. "Did the aliens kidnap and reprogram your brain or something?" she asked, quirking the corner of her mouth to show that she was only kidding.

"What makes you say that?" Tyrone asked, grabbing her arm before she could walk any farther from the entrance. "Where're you going…I'm not in a rush for lunch," he said, pulling her back. When he spotted her scowl, he said, "Sorry captain, I just want you to see the fruit of my efforts to get onto Cromwell's good side…"

"So that's what your secret meeting was all about? Gaining favor?" Alexis hissed at him. "Honestly Tyrone, I could have done without help," she said. "Cromwell is _nothing_ compared to my second-in-command back in the 401st. If I could handle my right-hand man then, I can most certainly take care of a temperamental major."

"Who was your second-in-command?" Tyrone asked, temporarily distracted from the activity outside the door. He frowned and then asked, "Did he have anything to do with your, um, attitude when you first arrived to Fort Deven?"

Alexis carefully considered her answer. Ari was really the only other person who had been with her the longest after the end of the Sector Seven fiasco two years ago, and so only she had the best idea of the months leading into 2008. Alexis suspected that she already knew the reason why Davis's disappearance bothered her so much, but wasn't ready to voice that part aloud. "Stryker Davis was my flight partner who joined the four-oh-first about two weeks or so after Mission City. We… got off on the wrong foot to begin with, and then Stanton more or less forced us to work together. That was when she, uh, stepped back from the playing field and left me in charge of the squadron, which put Stryker in the second-in-command position. I guess you could say that we didn't hate each other as much towards the end… or at least I didn't," she said, praying that Tyrone wasn't about identify 'Stryker' as a possible threat… if it came down to a battle to the death between the two them, she would have to wish Tyrone farewell.

Tyrone shrugged. "Where did he go, after he left I mean?" he asked.

"He was released from duty and went home because of family obligations," Alexis said quietly, remembering how long it had taken to weasel that piece of information from Stanton. The general at first refused to give Alexis the reason for the departure, but after two hours of borderline harassment Stanton relented and called it 'family obligations'.

"Oh," Tyrone said, secretly relieved that Davis was gone for good. He cast a glance towards the glass entry doors and said, "Captain, show's about to start… the result of a collaboration between me and the local police department." Seeing Alexis's slightly shocked expression, he added, "I need those guys to pull this off… I'll explain in a few minutes, okay?"

Alexis let out an irritated breath, but obliged him anyway by turning to face the entrance to watch…just in the nick of time.

"Tegan?"

Although the speaker's voice was soft, it was able to silence the entire room, specifically Cromwell, Thayer and the few authorities that had been about to leave the building. During the preceding five minutes, a small group of five had entered the military building. Now, as everyone watched, a medium-height woman gently moved aside two men who had brought up the front, and then stared at Cromwell. She was wearing a thin black coat over a blending outfit, the coat going down slightly past her knee, and she looked unusually frail. Cromwell had been stunned into silence at the woman's sudden appearance, and for a moment, neither of them spoke.

The woman burst into tears, and just ran to him, where he welcomed her warmly into his embrace. As he hugged her close, somebody in the audience began applauding, which soon everyone picked up. There were also a few catcalls when Cromwell kissed the woman deeply and lovingly, uncaring of his audience. A few people stopped however when the woman drew back, gazing at her husband, and even Alexis was sure that Cromwell was about to receive a slap across the face for faking his death. Instead, the woman said in semi-clear voice, "Why did you do that to us?" She pulled away from him, still looking injured. "I thought you were dead all this time. Why?" she asked, sniffling and swallowing down another sob as she worked to regain control of her emotions and breathing.

"It was to protect you and our son," Cromwell replied softly, all traces of the terrifying and mysterious major gone now. "I wanted you both to be safe from Sector Seven, and I wasn't even aware they had disbanded in 2007. I'm sorry, Lisa. There will be no more secrets between us, I promise."

" 'I wouldn't make promises that are not only concern others that you have no control over, but promises you cannot keep. You cannot predict what is going to happen next, and I don't care how close the two of you are.'" Tyrone muttered in Alexis's ear, mimicking Cromwell's words from two days ago. "Sheesh, what a hypocrite. He tells you that you can't make promises like that when concerning someone you love and then he goes ahead and makes a more binding one to a woman who has been living a lie for six years…"

"Shut up," Alexis hissed back, elbowing Tyrone to make him quiet. "He obviously hasn't been well off without her either, so just leave him alone."

"Sure," Tyrone agreed, casting an eye around the room as the couple embraced again. Suddenly he snickered and said, "I love how the major's lieutenant is reacting to this…he's gagging and one of the woman's lackeys is laughing at him.

"Where?" Alexis asked, looking briefly for the aforementioned lieutenant, but was distracted when Thayer stepped forward. While the exchange had been going on, a few security personnel had been shooing people out of the room so that the major could have a little peace and privacy…Tyrone managed to stay behind by saying that the major had requested his presence. Anticipating Thayer's question before Thayer had even spoken, Cromwell and the woman separated again and the major turned to face Thayer.

"Chief Thayer, this is my wife, Lisa Marie Cromwell," the major said, a tinge of pride and happiness in his voice. Alexis smiled; the major was now clearly a much happier man now that he was reunited with Lisa again.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Lisa said, smiling and accepting Thayer's offered hand. Her smile faded and then she asked, "Why has my husband been kept from me so long?"

"I'm afraid that's something you will have to discuss with him, ma'am," Thayer replied formally. "I am glad however that you were able to find each other… he was telling me just last night all about you and your son."

Lisa gasped softly as she remembered her son. She turned back to her husband and stared at him for a few moments before turning around to face a man who looked similar to her and said, "Where's Ethan?"

"He's waiting in the car, just like you asked," the man replied, and then looked up at Cromwell. "Good to see you again Tegan," he said, waving once to the major.

"Richard was constantly taking care of his baby sister," another man supplied helpfully, and laughed when Richard scowled at him. "Don't worry Tegan, Lisa was in good hands."

"Thank you all very much," Cromwell whispered softly as he pulled his wife closer to him, and she snuggled against his chest. Alexis decided that Lisa would have kissed her husband in a public square as long as it meant that she could see her husband again, and not care about any kind of audience. She grinned as Tyrone pulled her into a slight embrace from behind as well.

"Mrs. Cromwell, Ethan is here," a man said, walking in with a ten-year old boy holding his hand. The man looked down the boy and said, "Ethan, there's your mother."

Alexis felt her heart squeeze as the boy looked trustingly from the man to his mother, and then uncertainly to the man who was currently holding his mother. Lisa released her husband and knelt down and gestured for Ethan to come to her. Still smiling, she put her hands on Ethan's shoulder and began speaking to him softly. Richard wandered over to Cromwell and said, "It's okay… Lisa was convinced throughout all those years that you were dead and Ethan kind of grew up in her mindset." Richard raised an eyebrow, turned to face Cromwell, and said, "If you want that peace of mind, Lisa didn't see any guys… period. I was there the entire time."

"We'll have to catch up in privacy later," Cromwell muttered back. "Lisa may not mind the attention, as usual to her preferences, but it's starting to get to me," he added, checking at the last few remaining milling officers, who were careful to appear to be doing something else other than listening to the exchange. He looked past them and said, "Maxwell."

"Sir?" Tyrone replied, looking innocent.

"Thank you," Cromwell said, and then turned away to kneel down to Ethan's eye level. Alexis watched as he said something to the boy, and then Ethan finally moved quickly to give him a bear hug.

"Aw, Cromwell looks so much happier than he did yesterday," Alexis said as Tyrone gently moved her away from the reunion between the family members. The two of them began walking away from the entrance, Alexis tucked within Tyrone's arm. "You did a good thing yesterday… and I don't want you to tell me how you did it; it would spoil the image a bit."

"It's okay, nothing illegal happened. Now just watch…Thayer is probably going to take the group off to lunch, and then Major Cromwell is going to wherever his wife's been staying and they'll have some real quality alone time. Of course, I feel bad for any neighbors… a disappearance like that is going to warrant her yelling at him for doing stuff like that to her," Tyrone said, pushing the door to the outside open. "Then the lieutenant is going to wreak all of hell on me just because I took him out of the center of the major's focus."

"In that case, I hope I'm miles away when that happens… although I still do want to meet him. Mareski said he's worse than the major," Alexis said, slipping into the hangar. "I have this theory, and it's that nobody can be worse than Stryker Davis. I'm hoping to test that out," she added, ducking under a F-22 wing. The hangar doors were still open, and she could see that a few fighter jets were still mobile, some landing, some taking off, and others still maneuvering around on the landing strip. Apparently it was Busy Day for the air controllers today. Alexis privately wished that it was her squadron and herself out there, but she needed the damned clearance first.

"I didn't introduce myself specifically to the lieutenant, but maybe I'll tag along even though he's a self-centered, arrogant…" Tyrone began, but a loud _clang _interrupted his sentence, and a round of cursing closely followed the sound. Then there was a thump.

Alexis whirled around to find Tyrone on the ground, clutching his head. She didn't ask what happened… the screwdriver that had smacked him on the head lay innocently a few feet away. She knelt down and helped Tyrone back to his feet.

"When I find the person who threw that, I'm going to kill them," Tyrone growled, still holding his head while looking up at the F-22. Now that Alexis was listening carefully, she could hear the sounds of a struggle in progress above the plane. She held Tyrone back from joining the fray by putting her hand on his shoulder. The fight grew louder as it neared the edge of the plane, and then both Alexis and Tyrone jumped back just as a crew worker finally rolled off the edge and landed with a _thump_ onto the ground.

The man scrambled to his feet, and briskly saluted once he recognized Alexis's rank insignia. Then he dusted himself off, looked up, and then shouted, "You're crazy! I _quit!_" Then without another word the man stormed off, leaving a very confused Tyrone and suspecting Alexis in his wake.

"Good! 'Cause I never even hired you to begin with!" a familiar feminine voice screamed after him. There was a brief pause, and then the crewman managed to duck in time as a metallic missile flew in the air after him.

Alexis now knew who was up there. "Ari! Stop tormenting the poor guy!" she shouted up to the F-22, Tyrone bracing behind her for another potential flying missile.

There was a momentary silence, and then Arianna Aliskevicz's head peeked over the side of the jet's body. Alexis grinned to see her old friend despite the fact that Ari looked as though she'd just stepped out of a horror movie. Ari was still wearing her entire flight uniform except for the helmet, and seemed paler than usual. Nevertheless, she grinned at the sight of Alexis. She pulled herself to her feet and jumped down to the ground, her coordination a tad more off than usual. Alexis quickly moved out of the line of fire, but Tyrone didn't see it coming.

_Oomph!_

"Ew, I think I just landed on something," Ari grunted as she pulled herself off of the ground with Alexis's help. She dusted herself off, and then the pair hugged each other tightly, Alexis dropping her official persona long enough to join in Ari's delighted shrieking.

"How about 'landed on some_one_?" Tyrone growled as he picked himself up. He rolled his eyes as the two women calmed down so that they could speak to him. "Who is this?" he asked, gesturing to Ari, who immediately looked mock offended by scowling and placing her hands on her hips.

"I was about to ask who was the cushion," Ari said, pretending to look hurt. She scanned Tyrone over once and then asked, "Is this the guy you were telling me about?"

"I didn't tell you about anyone, Ari," Alexis said, still grinning. "This is Tyrone Maxwell, and he's my second-in-command in the squadron. Tyrone, this is Ari, the same one with the daily calamities a few months ago, and the same one who has a rep with the four-oh-first."

Before Tyrone could answer, Ari straightened in indignation. "Those were legitimate calamities!" she insisted. Seeing Alexis's wry grin however, she calmed down. Instead, she looked Tyrone over again and then said, "He looks okay, I suppose."

"Look ladies, I don't feel comfortable chatting right here in the hangar where anyone can hear. Lunch?" Tyrone interrupted, ignoring Ari's peeved expression.

"Can I change or do you want me to go like this?" Ari asked with all seriousness.

"I don't know. Are you looking for a boyfriend or not?" Tyrone asked with equal seriousness, and then he checked her over. "Alexis, I'll meet you two outside," he said to Alexis, kissing her lightly on the cheek. Then he left the hangar in the direction of the street.

Ari was quiet for a few moments as she and Alexis walked back indoors. "You okay?" Alexis asked as they walked towards the quarters. Alexis wasn't too sure where Ari had been placed, so in the meantime she figured that Ari could borrow her quarters to at least change into a more comfortable outfit. "So, you know about the Autobots now huh?"

That sparked a conversation from Ari. "Yeah, I just would have preferred to have met them when my life didn't depend on it," she said, pulling her flight gloves off. "Lennox was nice about it though. He told me that you knew but you weren't allowed to tell anyone, of course he said that _after_ I told you."

"How are Lennox and the Autobots doing?" Alexis asked conversationally as the pair of them walked along. "I haven't seen them for two years or so."

"Well, this is sort of how things went. After the London fiasco, Lennox told Mareski that I needed to be in the hospital for about a month because I was supposedly contagious with the bacteria MRSA and therefore could infect others with it… Mareski believed that excuse because he saw how banged up I was. In the meantime, Lennox took me to the 'secret base' they've got… they're calling their group NEST or something like that," Ari said, walking into Alexis's room as Alexis held the door open for her.

"Not going to tell me where the base is?" Alexis asked, winking as she shut her door. Grace wasn't due to return for a while, and Alexis hoped to be gone by then.

"It's on this itsy bitsy island called Diego Garcia. It's in the Indian Ocean, so in other words, it's in the middle of freakin' _nowhere_," Ari said, beginning to undress from her flight suit. "Thanks," she added, catching the outfit that Alexis had tossed her from the closet. "So after we land," she continued while dressing, "Lennox and Epps walk with me down the ramp off the airplane and immediately took me to this huge hangar that was empty. That was my first serious warning about what I was getting myself into."

"Did they stay with you the entire time?" Alexis asked.

"Yeah. First, they walked me up onto this structure so that we were thirty something feet in the air. Then Optimus came in first, and of course I recognize him as the truck that we used in the operation against Lynch. Then… then he did that _freaky_ transforming thing and, and, introduced himself first as the Autobot leader." Ari paused and then smirked. "I am proud to say I didn't faint… but I did have Epps in a death grip. He said to ease up because I was cutting his circulation off… just as the Autobot medic guy Ratchet came in with the Hummer form."

"Let me guess. Ratchet corrected him," Alexis asked, grinning, sitting down on Grace's bed so she could face Ari.

"Yeah! He transformed and told Epps that it was physically impossible for a female 'of my stature' to cut his circulation off. Then I asked him to define 'stature' and then got a boatload of medical jargon that I stopped understanding after the first two words," Ari explained. "Bumblebee came in next, and he was cool. I taught him how to play a couple of card games before I left. Then Ironhide and Sideswipe came in together." Ari stopped, and then shuddered at the memory. "I hope it's going to be another year or so before I see Ironhide's bipedal mode again… especially now that I have an idea exactly what we were driving in Mission City two years ago."

"You saw them recently though right?" Alexis asked, remembering what Mareski had said when he'd first arrived.

Ari shook her head. "Galloway was at the base in the Middle East when he dragged myself and three others away from the squadron. He was so… okay, pissed off barely covers it. He wanted us only to help him arrest the humans responsible for directly disobeying his orders. The Autobots are under close, twenty-four hour watch right now. The only reason he's gone off his rocker is because according to him, the government disbanded NEST _before_ Jordan, and he thinks that the human national militaries could have handled Jordan without a problem. He said that in front of the humans being arrested, and then you know what Tobias Jackson said?"

"I can only imagine it made Galloway even angrier," Alexis said grimly.

Ari snickered. "It did. Jackson said that Galloway was 'a slur upon the moral government of the world'. Toby quoted from John Quincy Adams himself. Then, as though they weren't in enough trouble to begin with, the C-17 captain James Belroy and a few other Air Force personnel didn't hide their amusement in Galloway's expression after that. Lennox, Epps, and the other Army guys were divided when it came to being amused or shocked. I think that's why Galloway threw them all into prison to await trial through the military tribunal, charges being insubordination and extreme disrespect."

Alexis shrugged. "They probably saved the world again… I don't know exactly what happened at Jordan. That alone is going to keep them out," she disagreed.

Ari shook her head. "Not this time. Stanton is one of Galloway's longtime friends. We both know she will defend her close friends if necessary, and she usually can provide a convincing argument so her side can win," Ari warned.

Alexis nodded, shivering. "So the Autobots are trapped there?" she asked.

"Yep. Lennox told me to tell Galloway that Galloway is one damn lucky… _idiot_ if the D-cons decide to not come and wreak havoc now that the Autobots are off the field for a while," Ari explained. Then she frowned. "But I thought the two main Decepticons, Demolisher and Sideways, were destroyed at Shanghai… must've imagined that report…"

Alexis said nothing. Ari had not been informed about Barricade, or Starscream, or any other threat that might still be lurking, just the two Decepticons from Shanghai. She figured that Will must've had his reasons for withholding the information, so she decided not say anything herself. She would keep that promise with herself… assuming that Starscream didn't decide to show up. If that were the case, well, then Alexis would tell Ari herself about 'Stryker Davis'.

"'Kay, let's go, lunchtime," Ari said, straightening the sweater she was wearing. "Now tell me _everything_ about this Maxwell guy…" she ordered as they left the room.

"Did Galloway hear about the gas leak yesterday, do you know?" Alexis asked as they turned the first corner.

"I wasn't there to see his reaction, but one of my squadron mates still at Garcia said that he called Stanton 'an irresponsible woman with a self-centered interest on the Air Force and a gross disregard for the other branches of the military'. Worst thing he's ever said about her," Ari replied. "_Now_ tell me about Maxwell!"

"I want to hear about London first, though," Alexis interrupted.

"Maxwell first!" Ari quickly insisted. "I spoke first… besides, we're spending lunch with the guy!"

Alexis relented.

--------------

By human standards, eavesdropping was wrong, so nobody should do it. Stryker Davis failed to see the wisdom in those words. By eavesdropping, one was able to accomplish a great deal. For example, he now knew for sure the Autobots were immobilized, and even better yet, he knew exactly where they were. If he ever needed any kind of information to win back his superior's favor, this was exactly sort of the information that would do the trick.

Stryker froze when the two women, Alexis and Ari, walked right past him in the hall. Granted he was in the shadows, but he thought that at least Ari would've caught him…then again she was still yapping about something menial or other.

He briefly toyed with the idea of following them, just to speak with Preston.

No, now was not the time or place for that yet.

He walked away the hall that led to the girls' quarters, thinking. Humans were so stupid. Even Optimus Prime had to know that. Who else would centralize the surviving Autobots, and then put them under 'house arrest' as the humans called it? Then the humans would be safe knowing that the Autobots wouldn't hurt them so they wouldn't expect any resistance. Then the humans were stupid enough to allow a chatterbox like Arianna Aliskevicz in on the secret.

Stryker leaned against the doorframe in the hall just outside the main corridor. It was here that he spent most of his time during the day so that there could people to testify to the presence of Cromwell's lieutenant. This was also the most advantageous position to listen in on any conversations that were meant to be private. But he wasn't focused on that at the moment.

After he'd left two years ago, Stryker had often wondered as to Alexis Preston's fate. When he arrived back later on, he'd found that she had settled in with another F-22 squadron… and apparently with another male too. Not to be territorial or anything, but Stryker disliked it when one of his few precious 'allies' became intimately linked with a possible leak.

He was not interested in taking any more humans into his confidence. Someone had to go.

Stryker mused over the choices. Once again, he was going to have to spare Preston… he was counting on her aid on top of everything else ever since his latest little venture began. It had taken a while to locate her too… for some odd reason the tracer he'd used two years ago had failed to stop working, so the two of them spent around forty-eight hours together under the same roof without either party realizing it. As for the other options, well, they were in places that ensured their safety.

After deciding the potential target, Stryker walked away in search of Major Cromwell, his wife and son.

Time to play the game of charades again.

------------------

A/N: Just a quick mention, the bacterial condition (MRSA) that Ari mentioned is real. The only reason Ari said a month was because they would have needed enough time to go to and from Diego Garcia and stay there without too many questions being asked about her extended absence. Also, for those who are interested but haven't read it, Ari's adventure through London is Chapter 17 of Welcome to Earth.


	6. Easing the Fear

Six

Easing the Fear

The Chinese restaurant within the city was bustling with activity. Tyrone navigated his two companions through the dinner rush and they finally made their way to the hostess's station, where he checked in with the reservations. Ari had yet to stop talking to both him and Alexis, and to be honest, he found her rather annoying. But Ari was Alexis's close friend, so he had almost zero say in whether she came or not. Another quality he personally found irritating was the fact that Ari managed to get into trouble just by walking out of the door. A cruiser, a random Washington DC police cruiser, had been sitting innocently near the base entrance, and upon seeing it, Ari had leapt back and behind Alexis as though the sight of it had burned her. The female officer near the cruiser had given Ari an odd look, leaving Alexis to explain that Ari had a few, negative, past experiences with another police officer.

Arianna Aliskevicz hadn't been in Washington DC for more than eight hours and she was already driving him crazy.

Tyrone could now see where Alexis had gotten her limitless patience. Having a troublemaking, motorphobic friend seemed to do wonders on a person's patience and temper.

Besides, he needed Ari's approval for something important to him and Alexis.

Still badly shaken from the encounter with the police officer, Ari didn't speak until the three of them were seated with the menus out and open in front of them. "So Lexi, did you speak to Stryker Davis yet?" she asked, temporarily forgetting that Tyrone was sitting right there across from the women as she tried to make conversation.

Tyrone looked up immediately when Alexis choked on her water, and Ari hit herself on the forehead with four fingers as though remembering something important. Then she whacked Alexis on the back to make her friend stop choking. Only when Alexis was coughing and he knew she was going to be all right did Tyrone finally ask, "Is this the same Stryker Davis you told me about earlier today?"

Ari suddenly found the menu unusually interesting as Alexis reluctantly nodded. "I didn't know he was here though…Ari, where did you see him?" she asked her friend. When Ari didn't immediately respond, Alexis added, "Ari, Tyrone's probably going to kill you for _not_ speaking."

Tyrone resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Ari slowly lowered the menu in a theatrical manner and then gave her friend a knowing look. "Stryker was following Cromwell and this woman person around earlier when I was coming back from the bathroom before we left for dinner… I don't think he saw me," she said, glancing at Tyrone.

Alexis mulled over the possibilities. Starscream couldn't be back for good reasons. He was either looking for entertainment now that the excitement at Jordan was over, _or,_ he was coming up with his own agenda that would require help from oblivious humans. Alexis was a little smarter this time around, and she silently promised herself that she wouldn't help fulfill his goals this time around if it meant an endangerment of her race. She gritted her teeth…just by being here, Starscream had piqued her curiosity, and she wasn't ready to bring back any unsolved…issues between them again, especially with Tyrone here. She looked up and asked, "Ari, how long ago did you see him?"

Ari puffed up a bit before replying, "Oh, he was just following Cromwell around with this little kid in tow earlier. For a second there, I thought the kid was his, but then I thought, then that would have meant he was married when he met us and so his flirtations were unacceptable. Then, I realized that if he really was the dad, he would've said something to us... all parents like to brag about their kids." She looked at Alexis and said, "I don't know about you, Lexi, but I'm more than ready to resume the Preston-Davis drama…it got such high ratings two years ago."

"What the hell is she talking about? Is she even speaking in English?" Tyrone asked while quelling the little flash of jealousy at the mention of 'drama' that Alexis had neglected to mention in all of the one year and nine months they'd known each other. Actually, he liked Davis less and less the more he realized how much of an impact the man had had on Alexis.

"Ratings? You better not have publicized the stories from the 401st days…I've already chewed Riley out for passing along one of them," Alexis warned. She glared at Ari when Ari looked a little unsure. "You did, didn't you?" Alexis growled.

"I might've said something to two people…or three…or six... or ten," Ari admitted, shrinking down to hide behind the menu. "But seeing you two go at it was hilarious...repeating all of it was even better." She suddenly straightened in her seat, and then said, "I wonder how Screamer is going to react when he sees that you're already seeing someone else… I cannot wait. I want to be around when you guys talk to each other."

"Keep Tyrone out of this or you'll have to answer to me," Alexis warned, but Tyrone could detect the slight playfulness in her tone. She turned to him and said, "Don't worry about it…just Ari spreading gossip again." She ducked her head down so he couldn't see her facial muscles tighten with nervousness. Most of the nerves stemmed from Starscream's appearance here, and why he was there to begin with. She didn't want Starscream to encounter Tyrone either…if they did then Starscream would cause trouble for them.

While Tyrone was distracted by the waiter Alexis held up a menu to shield her and Ari from the waiter and Tyrone. She didn't have to worry about the waiter; Tyrone was giving the waiter all three orders, something he'd offered to do. "Ari, I need you to do me a favor," she whispered carefully so that she wouldn't have to do some unnecessary repeating of herself.

"I don't know. Does it include high-speed chases in snow and ice in a foreign country?" Ari whispered back, catching onto Alexis's desire for discretion.

"No. I don't want to wait around for Stryker to find me…I'll feel like something being hunted if I do that. The favor is, can you arrange a one-on-one meeting for us, and do so discreetly please? I don't want even his superior to know, got it?" Alexis whispered back, leaning her head down a bit more so that she was completely shielded by the menu.

"Betcha I can get Cromwell and Maxwell tied up in one shot… falsify a report so that it's utter nonsense, hand it in under Maxie's name, and then Maxie's gonna have to go in to Cromwell to explain a report he didn't even write. Then, while they're in there, I'll just lock the door behind him," Ari whispered back, grinning at the thought. "I wonder if Cromwell is the type to kill someone who's overstayed his welcome…"

" 'Maxie'" Alexis repeated, confused.

"For 'Maxwell'. Your boyfriend's last name is boring and I can't make a nickname out of his first name…I use 'Ty' for Tyler. Speaking of which, guess what?" Ari said, grinning broadly now as they both lowered their menus.

"What?" Alexis asked, catching onto Ari's enthusiasm.

Ari was quiet for a second, and then she said excitedly, "He proposed to me before I left Diego Garcia! Sure it was through a letter, but come on! How exciting is that?"

"That's unbelievable! Did you write back yet?" Alexis asked, straightening in her seat as she caught Ari's enthusiasm.

"Yeah… I'm still waiting for a response though," Ari said, visibly deflating. She glanced at Tyrone, who was discussing something on the menu with the waiter, and the said in a near whisper, "The thing is, he was in a hospital when he wrote the letter in the first place, and I have no idea why or where he is. I was hoping to find someone from our 401st days here to help me hunt him down." She looked at Alexis and asked, "When you talk to Stryker, will you ask him if he's seen Tyler anytime between 2007 and now?"

"I will, but I highly doubt that he's seen any other ex-401st personnel lately," Alexis replied as Tyrone turned back towards them, his discussion with the waiter finally completed. She smiled to him, and he blew a kiss in her direction. They didn't see Ari roll her eyes in mock irritation, but she did elbow Alexis in the ribs.

"Stryker ain't going to be too pleased about this…heck, I can't wait to tell him. I don't care what you say or think, but he liked, _liked_ you when he was with us those two years ago," she muttered into Alexis's ear. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Preston-Davis daytime television show is back on the air for a second season, and the drama only gets thicker!"

"In your dreams…I was more interested in why Stryker is here rather than flaunting Tyrone in his face," Alexis muttered back. Louder, she said, "If you will excuse me for a moment, I'll be right back."

"Don't take too long," Tyrone said as she got up from her seat.

Alexis nodded, and then walked away towards the restroom. A glance back revealed that Tyrone was now attempting a conversation with Ari, so Alexis made it an effort not to worry about them at the moment.

In the restroom, she stood at the sink, just staring into the mirror but not really seeing anything. Instead, she was trying to think back to when Starscream had left. Did they leave anything unsaid or unfinished between them? Did he decide that she was worth sparing after all or was he really playing a bigger game that involved her staying alive until the opportune moment for him?

It wouldn't be the first time.

Alexis nearly growled aloud in frustration. Again, he had preempted this meeting just by leaving without explanation. He was too unpredictable for her at the moment to try and guess all the reasons he was here at the capital. She would have to speak to him without prying eyes. On top of all that, someone had to alert Major Cromwell to the danger he was consorting with…there was a possibility that Starscream had smuggled himself into America again just for the sole purpose of vengeance for any ills that Cromwell might have worked against the Decepticons. In fact…

"You okay?" Ari asked, walking in and interrupting Alexis's reverie. "I didn't mean to traumatize you or anything by mentioning Davis, I just thought the two of you would want to 'clear the air' over the manner of his departure and all that."

"I know," Alexis said, looking at her friend. "How much do you know about Major Cromwell?" she asked.

"Dunno, just that he was Mareski's temporary boss. I saw him for, like, a second before Galloway pulled me and three other guys out by the elbows. The guy's kinda pushy if you ask me…I say a perfect ten for Optimus for having the patience when it comes to dealing with a jerk like Galloway. I would've socked him or something if he pushed _me _far enough," Ari said, fixing a bit of her hair in the reflection of the sink mirror.

"Cromwell just recently stopped working for Sector Seven. Turns out they had a few pockets of agents worldwide, and not all of them the memo about the disbanding," Alexis said, leaning against the sink.

Ari stared at her. "Sheesh, those Sector Seven guys are like cockroaches… you kill one, you find ten somewhere else," she grumbled, taking Alexis's hand. "Question, how does this connect with Stryker?" she asked while dragging Alexis back towards the restroom exit.

"Um, not much really," Alexis lied. "I'm just saying that if there were any Decepticons still around here are Earth, Cromwell would definitely be on the hit list. To make the punch count even more, they might spare him but kill Mrs. Cromwell and their son," she added, finally voicing her fears without Ari realizing that she was specifically referring to 'Stryker'.

"If you're so worried about it, talk to the major and warn him then. Sheesh, do I gotta tell you everything nowadays? That was never my job in the beginning," Ari said, releasing Alexis's arm to look irritably at her friend. "Are you that frazzled? Come on, I think a nice plate of orange chicken and lo mien should fix that little problem. Everything is going to be fine, trust me."

"I don't know..." Alexis began, but Ari interrupted her.

"Look, if you're so worried, then maybe we should contact some of our old teammates... I know for sure someone who can set Davis or anybody straight for that matter. Give me a computer with excellent military and Internet access and we're in business. Whitmann taught me a few tricks last year," Ari said, and then forcefully pulled on her friend's arm before letting go and walking out completely.

Alexis followed her friend out, figuring out what exactly she was going to say to Starscream once Ari set the meeting up. He couldn't be hanging around to get vengeance on anybody... Cromwell was already in reach to begin with. Starscream had no reason to hide, now that his 'leader' had been gone for two or so years now. He couldn't possibly be afraid of the humans either, even if they did beat him and his troops once again in Jordan... or at least that's what she suspected.

She made a mental note to herself to check her cell phone and see if she still had two certain phone numbers. If she did, then perhaps she wouldn't have to deal with all this herself.

--------------

Alexis wasn't the only person in the capital city who needed the reassurance.

Major Cromwell reached across the table and placed a reassuring hand on his wife's wrist. "Lisa, relax. I'm here, and I'm not going away again," he said, squeezing her wrist in reassurance. He watched as Lisa seemingly jerked out of her thoughts, and then managed a weak smile.

"I know, it's just so hard to…_believe_ that you're here after all this time," she whispered back, her soft voice nearly drowned out by the chatter from all the other diners in the restaurant. She glanced off to the side, where their son Ethan was eating separately with his uncle Richard and Cromwell's lieutenant Stryker Davis. Cromwell remembered the amount of persuasion it had taken to convince Stryker to help Richard take care of Ethan for the evening. Stryker had vehemently opposed the proposal in the beginning only because Ethan had asked him endlessly about being in the Air Force.

"You know I'm not going anywhere soon…" Cromwell began.

"What about tomorrow? What then? What if Thayer makes you do another 'work-related' job?" Lisa snapped, interrupting him. Her lower lip trembled, her furious expression collapsing and her facial muscles relaxing. She whispered, "Tegan, I was a _w__reck_ after I thought you died. Can you imagine what I thought when they told me that they didn't even have a body for me to bury?"

Cromwell looked down briefly as he formulated what he hoped was a suitable response to his wife's outburst. "I did what I did to protect you and Ethan," he said quietly, repeating the same statement for what seemed like the hundredth time. "If the aliens I told you about earlier had discovered that I had a family, they would have come after you in vengeance…Simmons wasn't very tolerant of them since they arrived in '03. I didn't want to come home to smashed-in house and both of you dead…"

Lisa looked down at her dinner, her hair hiding her expression. Cromwell kept his hand on her wrist, just to show that he was really there and she wasn't imagining things. "I just…I just don't know what to think anymore," she finally said, looking back up at him.

"Listen, I can try to secure permission to be on leave for as long as possible from Thayer. After this upcoming panel, the four of us, you, Ethan, Richard and I will go back home together, and then we can try to re-establish ourselves as a normal family again," Cromwell said quietly, still rubbing her forearm to reassure her.

"What about Lieutenant Davis? He doesn't seem to be at ease around us," Lisa said, careful not to look in Davis's direction.

"He volunteered to help Chief Thayer with a few things after the panel… he is also going to try and reconnect with a couple of old friends after the panel as well," Cromwell replied calmly. "He said something about a close lady friend from two years ago being at the same base as we are, and he wants to wait for the opportune moment to speak to her," the major added as the thought occurred to him.

"Aw, that's so sweet of him," Lisa said, folding her hands while smiling. She seemed oblivious to the heated glares that Cromwell could feel on his back from Davis's direction, although whether they were warning or indignation glares Cromwell couldn't tell. "Why is he waiting? Surely his friend must miss him?" Lisa asked, bringing her husband's focus back to her.

"Personally, I think that he's too afraid to speak with her, especially since she is dating someone else," Cromwell replied, making up an answer since he didn't really know the real answer. He knew it was wrong because he could swear that the intensity of the glaring had just increased, and if looks could kill, Cromwell would be long dead by now.

Lisa grinned, as though well aware that she was being let into a secret. "That will turn out to be an interesting story… you'll have to keep me posted," she said, winking.

Cromwell nodded in agreement, and then asked, "How did Ethan handle the disappearance?"

She sighed, and then said, "It only encouraged him to be just like you when he grows up. I want you to talk him out of the Sector Seven or any secret organization part."

"There are no more secret government organizations," Cromwell assured her.

Lisa shook her head. "Richard has a friend in the police department, and the friend's old archrival works for this government group called NEST. NEST is apparently the successor to Sector Seven, except with legal sanction from the government," she said, gesturing discreetly towards her brother. Cromwell turned to look at Richard in time to see the man slip on an unseen water puddle as he got up to get something. Ethan began laughing hard and Stryker seemed to relax now that the focus was off of him. Richard quickly picked himself up and performed a flourishing bow to Ethan, who was only amused even further.

"I can see how he would've met the police," Cromwell said, turning back to his wife. "I see he's still a bit of a klutz."

Lisa smirked and said casually, "They met when Richard accidentally shot the cruiser's undercarriage, ticking the officer off. That was probably one of the few highlights last year, and Richard had the gun in the first place for attacking trespassers on his property from a safe distance." Cromwell nodded in amusement because he pretty sure he could guess the officer's reaction to the accidental shots.

"What else happened last year that is worth mentioning?" Cromwell asked curiously, releasing his wife's wrist so he could continue eating his dinner.

Lisa paused for a moment so she could think, and then said, "Well, in the months following Mission City, Richard helped Ethan and I move from our home in Carson City to a place near his in San Diego, but then the vice president was attacked in Los Angeles, so Richard helped us move to New York City in November. Then he moved in with us when his house caught fire just because he was stupid enough to leave the barbecue unattended."

"Is that where you all are now?" Cromwell asked, looking at her. She nodded quietly. "You know, Richard's friend John was working within Sector Seven as well," Cromwell told her as he remembered that little fact. He glanced at Richard again. The man was now trying to save Stryker from dealing with round two of Ethan's questions, and was failing miserably. Cromwell turned back to her and added, "He's doing fine, and says hello."

"When will he be back? Richard is getting worried," she said, folding her hands on her lap.

"Soon," Cromwell said in a tone that suggested an end to that particular topic, and Lisa scowled slightly. He started getting up as the waiter came back with the receipt, and Lisa offered a thin smile before standing up with him. "Now let's go home…I'm exhausted," he told her, offering his arm.

"Of course sweetheart," she replied, kissing him lightly. She smiled as Ethan came up on Cromwell's side, and she watched as Ethan accepted the offered hand.

Cromwell put a hand around each of their shoulders as they walked out of the restaurant and into the lamp-lit streets to head home. The other diners inside the restaurant however were treated to a brief shouting match between Stryker and Richard when they realized that Ethan had escaped their not-so-watchful gaze. They were in the process of loudly pinning the blame on the other person when the manager showed up and threatened to have both men hauled forcefully and disgracefully out of the restaurant, which of course promptly ended the argument.

-------------------

While it was nighttime in the eastern coast of the United States, it was only late morning in southeast China. The seawaters twinkled merrily as the sun's reflection was fractured multiple times in the waves. Cool salty air blew into American agent Robert Lansford's face as he walked along the 'promenade' deck towards the spot on the base where the southern hangars had been blown sky-high rather recently. He still remembered that night, how it had started innocently enough with the visitor being announced to them, and his charge, Colonel Stanton issuing orders that had to be completed as fast as possible. Stanton had refused to elaborate for Lansford, another testament to their forced relationship. When the visitor arrived to the office, well, she had kept the man engaged in menial conversation until the first explosion. Then she had ran to the hangar the seconds after the explosion, Lansford in pursuit.

The visitor in the office had abruptly vanished into thin air after the first explosion.

He could only watch as Stanton had rushed into the hangar, temporarily forgetting the F-22s already in there. Then, as she had tried to escape, both F-22s blew, the force of the blast causing the hangars to collapse altogether into the waters. Lansford mentally winced as he remembered taking charge, reminding the few Navy men on hand at the time that they could not count Stanton dead until Lansford had seen the corpse for himself. He remembered the faking-death stunt from last time… there was no way he was going let her do it again. Stanton however had reappeared all on her own, extremely unhappy and soaking wet, but alive nonetheless.

Neither of them saw the visitor again, but Stanton had seemed unusually smug about something.

Lansford found Stanton standing at the edge of the base that had previously served as the entrance to the hangar. To minimize injury risks, the crews had torn away any shards of hangar that had been still attached to the base itself, leaving what looked like a drop-off into the waters. The colonel was looking down into the water, mostly likely doing more thinking than seeing.

"Lansford," she said as soon as he came up to stand behind her. "What do you think did the trick? Did I provoke him too much, or was it something else?" She turned around to look at him as she drew the blanket around herself a little tighter.

"I'm not sure that we can connect the explosion to your visitor… although the disappearing act was a little unsettling," Lansford told her. If she insisted on the existence of a connection between the two, he might have to consider sending her back to the United States for mental treatment…there was no way the two acts could be connected.

Stanton let out a patient sigh, and then said, "Let me tell you something, Lansford. Two years ago, Mission City turned into a battleground, not for terrorists like we initially assumed, but for giant robotic aliens from outer space. These aliens' technology is so advanced that they can slip among us and never be caught. I have had encounters with these aliens in the past…"

"Are you trying to say that your visitor from the explosion was one of those aliens?" Lansford interrupted, not completely comprehending everything she had just said. She had said it as though it was an everyday thing that friends told each other in passing, not as though it was a national security issue.

"Yep," she replied, looking out across the water again. "Right now, I'm debating whether to go back to DC against orders and report this in to the secretary of defense or not. I might do so, and drag you along just for the heck of it."

Lansford narrowed his eyes. "My specific orders were to ensure that you stuck to your assigned task and did no excursions other than the pre-approved ones into China and Japan. That last trip you took to America is still irritating me," he said coolly. "You're lucky that I at least knew which city you were in, or I would have had to report that breach in."

Stanton was either too wrapped up in her own thoughts to pay attention or she was deliberately ignoring him. "Maybe it was the order to disable the weapon systems," she commented to herself thoughtfully. "I still remember the poor reception the last time I gave that same order." As though sensing his private irritation, she turned around again and said, "I was in Colorado getting in touch with an old friend. Four years in prison is a long time to be without friendly outside contact, and the guard there did say that my friend was sick of speaking to just his mother."

"What makes you think you could have gotten away with disabling the F-22 weapons this time around if he didn't like it the last time?" Lansford asked, catching onto the two conversations they were having at the same time. Better to focus on a more current problem, especially since the topic of her excursion into America was now semi-closed. He could chase that one later.

"That's the thing. It was a different person this time, although he really didn't have to tear down the hangars. His…_companion_ merely complained about the disabled weapons," Stanton replied. She frowned at Lansford and asked, "Why did you come here in the first place anyway? I can't remember the last time either of us came to the other person freely looking to chat."

"I can. First day I got here. That was the same, uh, discussion that led into our first argument," Lansford replied, trying to remember the exact reason that he and Stanton had started off immediately on the wrong foot. Perhaps it had been her offensive attitude, or his unhappiness at having to babysit Stanton indefinitely and lack of rest that had kicked it off. He couldn't remember. "As for why I'm here, well, do you know National Security Adviser Theodore Galloway?" he asked.

She nodded. "Known him since '04. The last time I saw him he had just received the post of National Security Adviser, so obviously we haven't spoken in a while, except for the smattering of letters since then. Last I heard he was assigned some special job from the Defense Department. Why?" she asked, tilting her head a bit to look at him.

"He called and left a brief message for you, colonel. I think he wants to catch up on more recent events," Lansford explained, handing Stanton the paper that summarized Galloway's original message.

Stanton quietly read the message, and then looked at Lansford. "Am I permitted to go to wherever the hell Galloway is now?" she asked, the sarcasm apparent in her voice.

"Only if it's official business and it's not to America," Lansford replied.

"I wish he was more specific in the note…that way I can brace myself for a rant of something 'atrocious' or for just a friendly little 'hello'," Stanton said, folding Galloway's note up and then tucking it away into her pocket. She looked up at Lansford and asked, "Do you want to know something interesting about the night of the explosion?"

"Is it something I want to know?" Lansford asked warily.

She shrugged. "Turns out there was one fatality that night. After the fuss from the explosion died down, somebody found that the traffic controller had been strangled to death, and all of the security tapes from the room itself and the hangars had been either thoroughly damaged or stolen. There were no fingerprints anywhere," she said as she began walking slowly back to the base, Lansford at her side. "One of the controller's friends admitted to the fact that the controller had a tendency to taunt pilots who gave him a hard time, which tells us that when the controller did taunt our mystery guest, the controller paid for it with his life," she said.

"No suspects then if you don't know the identity of said mystery guest?" Lansford asked curiously.

"Oh, I may not know who our guest was, but I have an idea on how to track him down," Stanton replied smugly. "First, I locate one of my former pilots, then, if he isn't there, I find his closest friend. You find one, you find the other." With those departing words, she continued to her quarters.

"It's not going to be that easy," Lansford warned after her. "Especially if your pilot is in America…I'm going to stick to my orders and tie you up if that will stop you. Also, if these aliens are as dangerous as you claim, then why chase them down? That will only make them angrier!"

"I'm not doing that now. I'm going to Galloway and seeing what is so important that he wouldn't talk about it over the phone. As for the aliens, well, no one in history ever got anything done by speculating what could happen. They're on my to-do list... right after Galloway in fact," she said over her shoulder.

"I suppose I will meet you at the north hangars in one hour then?" Lansford asked.

Stanton didn't reward him with a response. He still went to the hangar to wait anyway.

--------------

A/N: I don't think I have to explain 'motorphobia'... ;)


	7. Nighttime Whispers

Seven

Nighttime Whispers

It had been a long day. After waking up the first morning after her arrival, Ari had looked for Captain Mareski only to find that he was falsifying his own medical report in a vain attempt to avoid trouble with Major Cromwell. Apparently the report was due yesterday, but Mareski hadn't gotten around to delivering it. Ari, having only seen Cromwell from a distance, _still _didn't see what the fuss over the major was all about. So the guy had worked for Sector Seven, that didn't mean he was still doing so. She also no longer had any problem with scary commanding officers, and Cromwell was just the next in the long line of them.

Ari groaned to herself as she walked along the sidewalk on the top of stonewall overlooking the gardens, the sky darkening overhead. The gardens themselves were not a part of the base where the Air Force personnel were staying, but were actually a part of the building that was next door to the military facility. The pepperoni calzone she'd snitched earlier, while good while she was eating, was now sitting at the bottom of her stomach, weighed down by the ice cream sundae she'd taken from the mess hall. She flipped thorough her mail as she walked along, searching desperately for the letter from Tyler Collins. He hadn't written back since that first letter a few months ago and she'd responded, and now she was fretting. It shouldn't be taking this long to write back!

Ari paused momentarily to look around the area. She hadn't seen Alexis at all today, but she had a pretty good idea at least on whom her friend was with at the moment. She slumped forward slightly, fuming to herself. At least Stryker hadn't tried to push her out of the picture that rapidly two years ago. Even though Ari could easily work her magic and make the idiot go bye-bye, she wouldn't dare do it without Alexis's say-so. As much as Tyrone irritated her, he did make Alexis happy… and that was about as much as Ari wanted, even if she didn't like the guy.

Frustrated, she finally walked away from the path so she could sit down with her legs hanging over the edge of the wall. She adjusted her sweatshirt before picking up the nine letters and sorting through them, tossing them over her shoulder when they proved to be the opposite of what she was looking for. She frowned when she looked at a thick manila envelope from Claremont College in California. Didn't anyone realize that she wasn't looking for a college anymore? Growling, she carelessly tossed the thick package over her shoulder.

"_Ow."_

At the sudden male voice, Ari twisted around ready to defend herself if necessary, but relaxed when she recognized old time squadron partner Stryker Davis standing there, his features visible in the moonlight. "Oh, it's just you," she said, scooting over so he could sit down next to her. Maybe it was better to wait to see what he wanted first before she killed him for all the drama he put her and Alexis through two years ago after he'd left. Plus, she _might_ mention the meeting, nothing was ever final with her. "Wanna sit?" she offered, gesturing to the empty spot beside her.

"Thank you," Stryker replied, sitting down beside her. He seemed more polite and more at ease than he did two years ago. There was silence between the two of them, and then he said, "Um, I think these are yours," while offering the mail she'd tossed over her shoulder earlier.

She eyed the items and then finally took them, making a mental note to use them as missiles later. People would probably expect pebbles or clay chunks or other small stones to be used as aerial missiles, but _no one_ would see a paper airplane folded from a letter coming. She would have to test that theory out on someone. "So," she asked, "what brings you to Washington DC, other than Alexis I mean."

"I have not actually spoken with Alexis since getting here because I was unaware that she was here," he said calmly. "Also, my reasons for being here are not solely based on her."

Ari snorted. "Yeah right. I told her that I saw you with that little kid and Cromwell, and now she wants to talk to you," she said, carefully watching his face for his reaction. To her disappointment, his face remained expressionless. "Then _why_ are you here?" she finally demanded crossly. So maybe she wouldn't spare him after all…he was really asking for it in her opinion…

"I am working under Major Cromwell, and he is working closely with Chief of Staff Thayer," Stryker replied, turning to face her with a slight expression of irritation on his face.

"You're actually working with the jerk? He doesn't have a lot of fans here," Ari said, looking at him in puzzlement.

"Nevertheless, he gets the job done," Stryker replied quietly. "His work in Sector Seven is the reason you got landed with your job at NEST." At Ari's stunned expression, he added with a smirk, "Yes, I do know about the Autobots. In fact, Ironhide and I are the best of pals, despite his apparent gruff attitude."

"Remind me to do something nasty to Cromwell later… I never asked to sign up with NEST. I was actually getting chased by some psychopathic member of their species called a 'Decepticon' when Lennox and the Autobots came in to save my butt," Ari said, leaning back on her hands. It was nice to finally find someone else to talk to about the Autobots, especially when that someone knew the Autobots well and wasn't constantly tied up with another person.

"Do you remember the Decepticon's name?" Stryker asked curiously. "I've worked with Cromwell against a few in Rome about a week or so before Jordan, and they were, uh, interesting to say the least."

"I think Lennox called that particular Decepticon 'Sideways'. Then Sideswipe got all ticked off when I called him that name by _complete_ accident," Ari explained, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "It is totally not my fault that they have names that sound so similar to one another! Sides scared me when he pulled out those sword… thingies of his," Ari continued, trying to not to shudder at the memory of her own terror.

"Did he tell you about any of the others?" Stryker asked curiously. "Major Cromwell and I had limited contact with the Decepticons, and even those encounters weren't pleasant."

"Not during my most recent visit. But back in January, Lennox told me about their old leader Megatron, then he mentioned something about a second-in-command that apparently left Earth two months or so after Mission City, and then told me a bit about Frenzy and Barricade. I have to admit, it was kind of sneaky of Barricade to choose a form that _everybody_ trusts, but I told Lennox not to worry about me because I was already scared of the cops because of that psycho from Mission City… you remember that, Lexi was in on it too," Ari said, inspecting the next letter. It was the fifth letter in the stack, and it was a junk letter from a home redecorating place. "Want it?" she asked, offering it to Stryker.

"Why?" Stryker asked warily, eyeing her carefully.

"Because I have seen your place, and it's the poorest excuse for a house I'd ever seen in my life. I think it's worse than the toxic dump that was in Tyler's basement during our freshman year of high school," Ari snapped, shoving the letter into his hands. Seeing his puzzled look, Ari said sweetly, "I poked into your military record and Lexi and I did the road trip to your place, which turned out to be this itty-bitty place in the middle of nowhere. You could really use a redecorator… or at least a new house, preferably somewhere that's permanently cool. That way, if I have to hunt you down again, I won't have to go back into the summer heat."

"All the more reason to stay right where I was," Stryker replied coolly, but he accepted the letter anyway. They were both quiet for a moment, and Ari shuffled through the mail again, unsure of what to say now. Alexis was better at conversation with Stryker, having worked with him for a longer amount of time.

"_Give that back!"_

"_Come and get it!"_

Ari's head snapped up when her ears caught Alexis's voice and Tyrone's teasing tone nearby. She felt rather than saw Stryker react as well, jerking into a straighter sitting position. She finally spotted the pair on the walkway a few yards away through the tall hedges, Tyrone running ahead with something in his hand and Alexis close behind. She only relaxed in disappointment when she realized that they were only playing and not actually fighting. "Well, it was fun being Lexi's right-hand man while it lasted," she finally said, fidgeting a bit in her spot.

"When was that?" Stryker asked, not looking away from Alexis and Tyrone, who were still in view of the wall.

"Officially, never, but unofficially, all the time. I ranked higher than you did back then, Davis," Ari said, unable to keep the bragging in check. "Heck, I know _more_ things about Lexi than you could ever hope to know," she added.

"Like what?" Stryker challenged.

"Like nothing," Ari snapped, scowling and crossing her arms in anger when she remembered she'd promised to keep a shut lid on the conversation she'd had with Tyrone the night before. The one secret she thought would be easy to keep but turned out to be the one she wanted to tell the most.

They were quiet again, both watching as Alexis finally tackled Tyrone and managed to rescue whatever object he'd taken. She began to walk away but Tyrone pulled her back for another round, and the two of them finally rounded the corner again when Alexis broke free and darted away into the encroaching darkness.

"She seems happy now," Stryker finally observed after a moment of silence.

Ari snorted. "Well, she may be happy with Maxwell, but I'll only be happy for Maxwell once you take a fork and stick it down my throat, thank you very much," she snapped, her irritation with Maxwell growing in leaps when she remembered their conversation the night before.

Stryker raised an eyebrow. "Well, you didn't like me very much either, so why should I feel sympathy towards you now?" he asked, turning to face her.

"That's cause I didn't have anyone else to compare you with!" Ari hissed, careful to keep her voice down just in case Alexis pulled a fast one on her and showed up behind them. "If I had seen this coming, I would've been nicer to you, I swear!"

Stryker looked alarmed. "Just how bad is… Tyrone Maxwell?" he asked.

"Mean when you provoke him. Last night, the three of us went out for Chinese food," Ari began, but immediately frowned when a thought occurred to her. "That was also the night I got dissed by a fortune cookie. The fortune in the cookie said, 'Pick another fortune cookie', but the waiter wouldn't give me another one."

"Focus," Stryker snapped. "What did you and Tyrone say to each other?" he demanded, getting into a crouching position as though to interrogate her better.

"I don't remember how we started, but later we exchanged some verbal insults especially when Lexi was in the restroom, and I can't tell you the rest of the conversation; I promised Tyrone I wouldn't say anything," she replied, refusing to be intimidated. After Sideways in icy London, Stryker was a walk in the park.

Stryker heaved a sigh, and then said, "Very well, have it your way. I have to go find Major Cromwell anyway, so I'm just going to leave you to fret to yourself. It is your problem after all." He began to get up to leave her sitting there.

Ari panicked. She didn't mean to drive away her only audience. "Get back here pigeon-brain," she snapped, reaching up and grabbing his hand just in time. She pulled him back down to his original seat and then warned, "Okay, whatever I tell you, you _cannot_ repeat, because if you do, I'm going to key your effing jet _and_ take a wrench to its guts to the point where even _you_ won't be able to fix the damn thing when I'm through."

"Did Maxwell break into the Pentagon or something?" Stryker asked, raising an eyebrow at the level of the threats.

"No. Listen, if you ever want to talk to Alexis _again_, you have to get off your rear and do it now, because Tyrone told me last night that he was going to freaking _propose_ to her wicked soon!" Ari snapped, and then resisted the temptation to hit her forehead when she realized that the big secret sneaked its way out of her mouth. After a few seconds of silence, she peeked a look at Stryker Davis's face.

He had gone completely silent, and was staring in the direction that Alexis had vanished in. Ari could see the muscle twitching his jaw, and could only wonder what he was thinking about.

"I need to talk to her right away then…_without_ Maxwell," Stryker said, standing up again to leave to find Alexis.

Ari sighed and caught his hand again before he left and she yanked him back to the ground again, all without looking away from the gardens before her. "Mistake number two Davis," she said, releasing his hand as he sat down by her again. No need to tell him that Alexis wanted to chat privately after all. "Now listen, but Maxwell knows you were interested in Alexis, and he knows there's always a possibility that you'll come back for her."

"How does he know that? We haven't been formally introduced to each other… ever," Stryker said, staring at her in irritation.

Ari decided _not_ to repeat everything she'd said about Stryker in the restaurant the night before. "Call it a hunch… she's told him about you a bit," she said, looking at him irritably. "Now, I have an idea that will guarantee you legal permission and a perfect excuse to speak to her alone. You and that crabby major of yours will have to work together if you want to succeed," she explained.

"I'm listening, Aliskevicz," he growled, his body tensing as he prepared to listen.

"Okay, you two are going to have to do this at the panel in two days from now," Ari said, twisting around to face him. "Here is what the two of you do. First, you…"

Meanwhile, Alexis was engaged in an activity of sorts… if playing hide-and-seek with the ten-year old child of a superior could count as an activity. It was really more of pretend-that-she-couldn't-hear-Ethan's-giggles-from-behind-the-nearest-hedge than a game of hide-and-seek.

Originally, she and Tyrone had been enjoying the night alone, that is, until a paper airplane had come out of literally nowhere and smacked Tyrone in the back of the neck with the pointed tip. The missile turned out to be somebody's mail, but the address label had been ripped off the envelope. Tyrone then decided to leave the area before someone threw another one. After that incident, they had stumbled upon an informal gathering of the authorities in the circular heart of the hedge maze. Major Cromwell had been engaged with Ethan in hide-and-seek until she and Tyrone had shown up. She and Tyrone had earned babysitting duty at that moment so the major could rest.

"Daddy!" Ethan squealed, startling Alexis as he darted from behind a hedge and ran straight to his parents and uncle. Lisa looked up from her conversation with her brother but relaxed as Ethan jumped onto his father's lap, clawing at Cromwell's shirt for support. Thayer laughed at the display, unperturbed that his conversation with Cromwell had been rudely interrupted. Lisa joined in the laughter, but more at Cromwell's misfortune as his shirt was pulled harshly in different directions as Ethan moved around in his father's lap for a more comfortable position.

"That kid is annoying. Cute, but annoying," Tyrone muttered as he sat down with her on one of the stone benches where they had a full view of the Cromwell family. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they watched the other relaxing personnel in silence. Thayer especially seemed unusually at ease, maybe because he wasn't in so much of a strict setting.

"Dad!" Ethan said, although it was more of a half-shout. Everyone could hear him. "Guess what?" Ethan said, pulling on his father's shirt collar to get Cromwell's attention. "Guess what!" he repeated louder when Cromwell didn't respond in the five seconds of silence between words.

"What?" Cromwell asked, carefully moving Ethan to the spot on the bench between him and Lisa.

Ethan was too excited to realize that his father had just moved him. "Stryker said that, that, that if it's okay with you and Mom, he'll take me in his F-22 and take me for a ride in the air around the base!" he said excitedly, inciting some laughter from the few spectators of the conversation.

Lisa laughed as well. "Absolutely _not_," she said after she'd abruptly stopped laughing. When Ethan looked at her with a horrified expression, she said, "It's a safety issue sweetheart… only one person can fit in the cockpit of a F-22 and Stryker would have to drive the plane since you don't know how. You would be cramped in there with two people."

"But Uncle Richard let me drive the car once! How can a jet be any different?" Ethan demanded in an indignant manner.

Lisa gasped silently and turned around to face her brother. "You did _what?"_ she hissed angrily.

"I let him _steer_ the car, not drive with the pedals," Richard clarified, briefly glaring playfully at his nephew. "Lisa, I would never let him literally drive, you know that."

"Says the guy who shot at a police officer," one of Richard's cohorts helpfully supplied, grinning when Richard made a rude hand gesture in his direction. Richard at least was careful to keep the gesture concealed from only Lisa and Ethan.

"If you behave for the next couple of days, Ethan, I'll let you sit in the cockpit of my F-22, all right? Stryker is a busy man, so don't bother him okay?" Cromwell said, ruffling his son's hair in a playful manner. Ethan scowled and mussed his own hair up in an attempt to 'fix' it.

"Ethan is so adorable," Alexis said, snuggling up to Tyrone a bit as they watched Ethan slide off the bench and wander off in search of something new, his mother in tow. "When I was in college, I've always wanted to get married and have kids of my own," she said, looking up at Tyrone. "I used to go web surfing when I had a free moment and I would look up houses that would be suitable for a family." She was quiet for another moment before she said, "I was also thrilled that I got to leave Maine because I thought it was the most boring and difficult place to live in. Then, before I went in for formal Air Force training, I decided that I would go back home after all just not back to Topsfield."

"Where would you go?" Tyrone asked, leaning his head on hers. He began to try and imagine the kind of life she was describing.

"Mount Desert Island, or at least to a place really close to Acadia National Park. Even though the few cities there thrive on summer tourism, it's still… _beautiful_ up there even in the wintertime," she said. She looked up at him again and said, "I know of a friend who lives there and works in real estate, and she was willing to help me find a place there."

"What about your career here?" Tyrone asked curiously.

Alexis shrugged. "Sometimes I wonder if I should've left in '07 before Mission City, or gone with Wilson when he resigned two months later," she said quietly. "Several people from the 401st either jumped ship or were transferred in the years leading up to Mission City, and then half of us were wiped out in the attacks. As you can probably see, the 401st didn't have the best of luck in its last two years," she said calmly, watching as Mrs. Cromwell convinced Ethan to free the firefly he'd captured a few minutes before. She sighed as she thought briefly of Starscream, and wondered if he had seen her with Tyrone yet.

She felt like a child who had just gotten caught doing something morally wrong.

Alexis pulled away suddenly, and ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry, Tyrone…I'm exhausted," she said, seeing his hurt expression. "I…I can't focus anymore."

"Come on… you're tired. I'll walk you back…" Tyrone began to say while standing up.

"Already covered… haven't seen either of you at all today," Ari snapped crossly, appearing out of the hedges. She looked grumpy from exhaustion, and Alexis knew not to mess with her when she was in this sort of mood. Ari eyed Tyrone as though he was the bull in the ring in Ronda, Spain, and she was the matador. "Got a problem with that?" she asked when he didn't say anything.

Tyrone smiled tightly and said, "Of course not."

Ari snickered at him before taking Alexis's arm and dragging her friend back towards the exit of the gardens. "You better not be planning to do something to hurt him," Alexis warned.

Ari rolled her eyes and raised her right hand into the air. "I swear on my dear mother's grave that I am not planning anything that would compromise Tyrone Maxwell and/or his personal safety," she said in a formal tone, and then she grinned at Alexis.

"Then why the smug attitude?" Alexis asked warily.

"Because I _am_ planning to have some fun with the two dimwits from your squadron, Lucky and that tall skinny guy that hangs around with him," Ari said as they walked onto the street outside the gardens and towards the base. "Then I'm going to antagonize Stryker and see if he missed me or not… then I'll set up your meeting."

"Try to stay in one piece," Alexis said as they continued walking.

"Who is your superior?" Ari asked curiously as she kept pace. "I know Cromwell is no one's boss, but who is yours?"

"Major Louis Chrisman and Colonel Bernard Reynolds," Alexis answered as they walked up the steps into the base. "Never seen such a pair of opposites before. They can't agree on _anything_, including the most lethal kind of food. I personally think that's the stupidest topic to disagree on, but I can see where Chrisman is coming from… he's got severe shellfish allergies. Got hospitalized one time when we were still at Fort Deven. Just don't ask him about it though, he likes to keep his allergies a secret because he's embarrassed for having them."

"Ah… cool," Ari observed, feeling about an inch tall as she thought back to her conversation with Stryker in the gardens. She let Alexis take the lead so her friend wouldn't see the guilt that was probably written all over her face. Ari technically didn't lie earlier when she said she wasn't planning anything… when Alexis asked, the plan was in more of the 'action' stage rather than the 'planning' stage. Plus, if Alexis had been on top of things, she would've realized that Ari's mother, Marianne Robinson, was actually alive and well. Ari wondered then if the oath would technically even count if the mentioned family member wasn't dead yet… but she wasn't going to ask. Besides, Ari reasoned to herself, nothing was really going to happen to Tyrone at all, unless losing a little sanity counted as compromising personal safety. Otherwise, Tyrone would have no involvement whatsoever.

"Ari? Are you okay?"

Ari jerked back to reality and smiled at her friend, who had turned around at some point or another. "Yeah, I'm good… just tired," she replied, offering a faint grin.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then," Alexis said, smiling now. "Good night."

"G'night!" Ari replied. She fidgeted impatiently as Alexis turned and disappeared into the quarters. Letting out a whimper, Ari turned and ran off into the base, looking for her own bedroom. She'd deal with everyone and everything tomorrow.

-------------

While Ari got to go to bed, Ethan Cromwell was desperately wishing for his. When his parents warned him that they would up late, he'd initially been excited. Now he was more than ready for his bed, and his mother wouldn't stop gabbing with the Very Important Person in front of her.

"Well Mr. Thayer, it was a pleasure speaking with you again," Lisa said as Ethan lightly head-butted her in the side. "I've got to get this little guy home now because it's past his bedtime."

"Of course, Mrs. Cromwell. Will you be back tomorrow?" Thayer asked as she wrapped an arm around Ethan's shoulders.

Lisa sighed, and then said, "Probably not…I promised Ethan he could see the National Air and Space Museum while we were here. Besides, our trip would also give Tegan a chance to finish working uninterrupted, but I will be back in the evening so that Tegan and I can have some alone time without Richard or Ethan."

"Very well, it was a pleasure seeing you again today. Good night," Thayer said. Lisa thanked him, and then walked over to her husband.

"I'll be along in a few minutes… I think I have some unfinished business to complete," he whispered to her before kissing her deeply. The kiss continued uninterrupted until Ethan made a mistake of looking up at his mother to see why it was taking her so long to say good-bye, and let out a loud cry of disgust when he realized what his parents were doing. Cromwell however managed to refrain from telling his brother-in-law to shut up when he pulled away because Richard had started laughing at Ethan's reaction.

"All right, come on tiger," Lisa said, gently guiding Ethan towards the exit. "Daddy will be right behind us, don't worry."

"_I_ worry," Richard muttered darkly before following his sister out of the gardens. Thayer on the other hand chose that moment to step forward with a young man at his side.

"Yes, sir?" Cromwell asked politely when Thayer came up to where he was standing.

Thayer stopped and politely explained, "I wanted to talk briefly with you about something important."

"Well, here I am," Cromwell said, flicking a brief glance over Thayer's shoulder to see if his lieutenant had wandered in at some point or not... Cromwell doubted it because Stryker seemed unusually skittish around Thayer and the other administrators. "How may I assist you?" Cromwell asked.

"I need a favor from you, old friend. This is Airman First Class Jeremy Stanton. I was wondering if you would do me the favor of keeping an eye on him just for a couple of days… just make sure he doesn't cook up any shenanigans so I can secure another superior officer for him," Thayer explained, gesturing to the younger man beside him.

"Sir," Jeremy greeted in somewhat of a stiff manner.

"Very well… I will see you tomorrow around ten a.m.," Cromwell informed the non-com, who saluted in response. Cromwell merely nodded back… he had sensed an opportunity in taking the job, one that would tip the scales in his favor.

"Thank you, Tegan. Not many officers were willing to do this because his mother has something of a reputation amongst them, and no one want to test to see if the famous Stanton temper is a hereditary trait," Thayer explained, glancing at the airman, who was now surveying the gardens with a slight air of suspicion. "I'll see you in the morning then?" he asked.

Cromwell nodded calmly. He watched silently as Thayer and Jeremy left the circular heart of the gardens, before departing himself. He wasn't concerned about Stryker's location; if his lieutenant wanted to continue hiding but wanted to talk anyway, then he would find the major on his own.

The crickets in the gardens finally resumed their nighttime concert.

----------------

A/N: Not much to say here... questions? Don't hesitate to ask! :)


	8. Behind Closed Doors

Eight

Behind Closed Doors

The next morning, Alexis spent fifteen precious minutes looking for Ari, who had vanished completely. The cause of concern was that Ari hadn't been looking well the night before, and Alexis wanted to make sure she was okay before the last brief meeting before the panel. There was just no sign or clue of her friend…

"Preston! Attention!" a male voice suddenly barked from the hall.

Alexis didn't think. "Sir!" she yelped, jumping to attention all the while fearing that Thayer or another official had wandered in without her noticing. She thought she'd been aware of her surroundings…

"Good to see you still have it… Aliskevicz fled the room altogether when I shouted at her… she thought I was someone else," Tom Wilson said as he walked up to where she was standing.

"Tom!" Alexis cried out joyfully as she broke rank and ran to him, forgetting for a moment that she was supposed to be acting more like the seasoned captain rather than the hyperactive younger officer. Tom let out a grunt as she hugged him tight, and then let out a whoosh of air through the mouth when she finally did release him. "How are you doing?" she asked, stepping back so she could see her old sergeant better. To her slight surprise, he was noticeably thinner since the last time she'd seen him. He was wearing civilian clothing, clearly more interested in blending in with society rather than amongst his peers. "Are you all right?" she asked in a concerned tone when she noticed that the hand holding the cane was shaking slightly as though from exertion.

"I'm fine," Tom assured her. "I'm just extremely worn out from being in the hospital for long stretches of time because of illness, and from keeping a low profile in the Defense Department. Someone can't seem to get it through his thick skull that I retired two years ago. I've even got the document to prove it," Tom grumbled. "So they asked me here to pitch in my two cents, and then I'm going home."

"What specifically were you called here for?" Alexis asked, walking beside Tom as they headed down the main corridor.

"A 'get-together' this morning with a few penguin-suits… we'll be suffering together," Tom said, pausing by the conference room door. "This is going to be a load of fun… working with guys who have probably seen desks more often rather than jet controls, and no wisecracking Stanton to keep the meeting even remotely interesting…"

"Have you spoken to her recently?" Alexis asked curiously. "Did she say anything about the base explosion?"

"No. I only heard about that," Tom said, leaning on his cane. "But I can tell you that I know when she's about to get into trouble because my funny bone gets this tingly feeling closely followed by pins-and-needles," he said, gesturing to his shaking hand. He laughed slightly at Alexis's disbelieving expression and said, "You're right, I was just kidding… but Stanton has been too quiet lately so I personally think she's up to something. She would not have allowed something menial like a gas leak to happen, so I think that's something amiss."

"I don't think so either, but Tyrone took the story at face value," Alexis said, glancing down the hall to see if Tyrone was in the area.

Tom frowned. "Who's Tyrone?" he asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

Alexis momentarily froze, but then said, "He's my second-in-command right now… I'll introduce you two later, okay?" She looked down at the floor briefly before looking up and saying, "Um, should we go in now?"

"You can, I have to go get my babysitting charge and get him here… he's going to be key in this meeting," Tom explained. "If they already haven't done it yet, have two seats reserved for us please." Without any further explanation, Tom turned and walked away, the limp now less pronounced. Alexis meanwhile pushed the door open and slipped in.

The room was dimly lit, putting on an ominous atmosphere. Alexis saluted sharply when she recognized the current Secretary of Defense, Theodore Johnson, sitting at the head of the rectangular table. Then she took in the sight of Chief of Staff Thayer sitting at the right-hand side, while Mr. Keller, the previous Secretary of Defense, was sitting to the left. True to form, Major Cromwell was sitting faithfully on Thayer's other side. It was the man on Keller's other side that made Alexis freeze.

"_You?"_ she hissed, breaking protocol as Reginald Simmons relaxed in his padded chair on Keller's left side.

"Aw, not happy to see me again, captain?" Simmons asked in a faux pleasant tone, taking pleasure in his apparent recent change in status. "Are you to going back out of the chat now?"

"At ease, captain," the secretary said, gesturing for her to sit beside Cromwell while ignoring Simmons's interruption. "Thank you for coming here. You are one of few who are intimately familiar with the subject topic today, and we will appreciate your input."

Somehow, Alexis knew that Johnson was not talking about military strategy. She sat next to Cromwell, who merely observed her briefly before reverting his attention back to Keller, who was sitting across from him. She nodded in greeting to Keller, who had acknowledged her presence in a similar fashion.

"Wilson is still retrieving his charge, so I guess we will start," Johnson said, pressing a button on a hidden panel in front of him, and Alexis watched as one of the few video screens on the wall flickered to life, a little box appearing announcing that a connection was still being established. Johnson meanwhile leaned back in his seat and said "I decided to break the rule of silence on Colonel Stanton for this one meeting, Keller. As much as a pain as she may be, we still need her insight, if any."

Alexis glanced at Simmons to see his reaction to the fact that his archenemy was being given an invitation, but he looked more bored than threatened. He took a sip of coffee as a box appeared on the screen, announcing that the connection had been established. Alexis turned to see an image of Stanton appear, and she had a passive expression on her face. She was wearing her military uniform, and was leaning back in her chair. She did not react to seeing Simmons there… she either hadn't noticed him or had decided to be the civil one in the meeting this time.

"Colonel, thank you for joining us. I apologize for the lateness of the hour on your end," Johnson said, folding his hands together on the tabletop.

"It is quite all right… I wasn't doing anything anyway," she replied calmly as a man appeared behind her and stood at her shoulder.

"Well then, we shall start. As some of you may already know, this hopefully brief meeting will cover what exactly happened in Jordan, NEST, and what our course of action will be now. We also need to try to establish the current location of any Decepticons and validate what kind of threat they will be," Johnson said grimly, reclaiming attention to himself. "By now, you all probably more or less know that the 'gas leak' in Stanton's headquarters was no accident."

"Decepticons?" Alexis cautiously ventured.

"A Starscream-wannabe," Stanton said, and Simmons looked interested. "The reason I didn't immediately turn him away was because I thought it was Starscream back for God-knows-what, and when it became…_apparent_ that it wasn't him, I tried to keep him distracted so the crews could disable his weaponry. But he blasted a hole through the hangars to shake the crews off, and then destroyed the other two F-22s in the hangar to discourage pursuit."

"Sure it wasn't Starscream?" Keller asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Stanton gave him a look. "Last time I checked, Starscream was silver from his USAF days, not… _purple_," she snapped crossly.

"_I_ don't know of a purple Decepticon… sure you saw the color scheme clearly?" Simmons asked innocently. "Or were you hallucinating the whole incident?"

"The crews verified the color scheme," the man behind Stanton interrupted. "We tried to get through to the National Security Advisor Galloway for confirmation… apparently he knows something about them, but communications with him are still down… have been for a couple of weeks now."

"We haven't had much luck getting through to Galloway either," Thayer said, looking at Johnson. "We're trying to negotiate a settlement with Galloway, maybe get NEST back in operation and free several imprisoned Air Force personnel. The charges were deliberate insubordination of a superior's orders, plus, um, someone thought to push Galloway out of a C-17. Not really a proud moment in anybody's career, but Galloway was still making a fuss about it up until we lost communication…" Thayer added.

"All right, so Starscream is off the map completely for now," Johnson said, and raised an eyebrow when Alexis slowly raised her hand. "Do you know where he is?" he asked, leaning forward.

Alexis had been having an internal debate for the last few minutes over whether to say something or not, and then she had considered the consequences for deliberately withholding information. "I…I don't know exactly where he is, but my friend, Lieutenant Aliskevicz…"

"Has a record for coming up with outrageous stories, and, according to a footnote in her records, may still be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder that kicked in during an operation here in DC," Cromwell calmly interrupted. "Symptoms include but are not exclusive to hallucinations of nonexistent entities and an irrational fear of the police force. The doctor in charge at the time, Doctor Sasquatch, even wrote down that it was possible that the stress could be repressed for long intervals of time, and that she may have been suffering since as early as late 2004, early 2005." He looked at her and said, "In other words, your friend, is not exactly the most trustworthy source of information."

"He's got a point there," Simmons said, glancing at the colonel on the screen. Stanton looked as though she wanted to say something, but decided against it in the end. Simmons meanwhile brought the topic back onto the table and said, "So Screamer is MIA for now… threat level high because no one knows where he is and he's dangerous when even when we do know where he is. Who else is missing?"

"This would be so much easier with Galloway here," Thayer muttered as Keller straightened.

"The Decepticon that the colonel worked with two years ago, Barricade and the metallic partner of his, Frenzy," Keller said, also leaning forward in the chair. "I don't know the specific location of either, but I personally think, and I do have valid evidence on hand, that Barricade has gained some sort of asylum here in the United States. By whom, I don't know. Just by that alone, he too is MIA, and probably just as high as Starscream since we haven't got a peep from him yet."

"What's your evidence?" Stanton asked.

"The fact that he was able to evade the NEST teams _and_ the Autobots several times. You can't be _that_ lucky more than once unless you had some sort of help from entities who know their way around the battleground better than the opponent. The evasions always happened in an urban setting, and never in a rural location. There are also reports submitted on numerous government attempts to capture him," Keller explained.

"Barricade isn't stupid. Hundred dollars say that he's only gotten smarter at evading the Autobots, _without_ help," Stanton interrupted, grinning.

"Now, about Frenzy…" Keller began.

"Frenzy isn't a threat. Trust me," Simmons said, grinning. Stanton merely raised an eyebrow while Thayer nodded appreciatively.

"Guinea pig in someone's lab?" Cromwell asked, a slight tinge of humor in his voice.

"Deactivated too," Simmons said, nodding in barely concealed excitement.

"Who else? There had to be Decepticons in Jordan or none of us would be here talking about it," Johnson asked.

"The Autobots took out a good chunk of them though… it's just Megatron, Starscream, and a few others who escaped… they wanted to harvest our sun for energon or something crazy like that. I was too busy babysitting a ditzy college freshman and stopping the bad guys to really pay attention to survivors," Simmons said, relaxing in his chair.

"Maybe you were too busy to notice, but _I _know someone wasn't," Tom snapped, startling them all as he walked in after shutting the door. "I've got a patient who is still in the medical ward, but was a fighter at Jordan... a pilot to be precise. The doctor there wouldn't let him leave."

"Who?" Alexis asked curiously, leaning forward on the table.

"For confidentiality reasons, I'm not going to give away the identity... for now," Tom said as he sat down beside Simmons. "He was a last-minute-recruited flier for NEST, and took a nasty spill when his wing was blown off…fought on the ground until he was approached by what he called 'the tall scary metal guy', which I interpreted as either Megatron, or another Decepticon present. He was lucky to escape with his limbs intact, but I can't say the same about his vision. Doctor says it will come back in a couple of months… he didn't sound so sure."

"If it's who I think you're talking about, I noticed that he was discharged from the military altogether," Stanton observed as Alexis ground her teeth in frustration. She hated being out of the loop like this.

"Doc didn't say that his vision would be 20/20 again," Tom replied somewhat patiently. "I'm in charge of him for now… we're securing medical care and transportation home."

"To where?" Thayer asked curiously. "Do I know this person?"

"We're taking him back to Boston before we get into contact with his fiance," Tom replied. "He still remembered the last few things he saw though, and was able to provide a bit of information."

"Like what?" Thayer asked.

Tom was quiet for a few minutes, and then said slowly, "He saw a bunch of giant shooting robots, some were with them, some were not. There was a giant robot standing over him, but the robot didn't see him so he tried to shoot it, but the robot tried to step on him… then there was this white flash and then nothing." He looked at Johnson and said, "He doesn't remember where the battle took place."

"Now, we are still trying to get through to NEST, who we're hoping will provide details on the incident, but we haven't got a word from them either," Johnson said, bringing the attention back to the task at hand. "Colonel, have you heard anything?"

"No, but yesterday or so I was going to Galloway because he wanted to talk about something, but I got sidetracked," Stanton calmly replied. "I will bring it up when I do see him."

"Ask him to release the army and air force personnel who were imprisoned for insubordination. Remind Galloway that he is a politician, and when it comes to discipline of soldiers and pilots it is the duty of their superior officers and ultimately the chief of staff to see to that, not him. He should have come to us when NEST initially refused to disband… we can reason with the president when it comes to NEST because they can technically be counted as a branch of the Defense Department."

"You all realize that Jordan is new news to me, right?" Stanton said, drawing surprised looks from the audience. "We only heard about Galloway's involvement with the Autobots through choked info channels and Mr. Skeptic behind me not only has no idea about the Autobots and doesn't believe me when I tell him they exist, but he's been working to keep me isolated from stuff happening in America and anything associated with it."

"Normally, I would say 'good job' but I don't want to get Miss Priss all riled up," Simmons said, grinning at Stanton's scowling expression. "Especially since we want her cooperation now…"

"You're making it sound like I'm on trial," Stanton snapped back, getting out of her chair so she could get closer to the webcam on her end. "Whose bright idea was it to invite him?" she snapped angrily, glaring at mainly Keller and Johnson.

"I was asking that myself when I walked in," Tom muttered to himself, loud enough for Simmons to hear.

"Knock it off you two," Johnson interrupted. "Stanton, if we needed to break this up by separating the two of you, you would be the first to go because all we have to do on this end is cut the connection. That is easier than asking Simmons to leave the room altogether."

"I…am going… to kill you," Stanton growled, sitting back down and glaring at Simmons. "I don't know how or when, but somehow I will. You and Lansford _both."_

"She's your problem now, buddy," Simmons said to Lansford, who glanced at Stanton warily as she refocused on Johnson.

"Perhaps we should locate Barricade first," Cromwell suggested, speaking up for the third time that morning. "Locate the party responsible for granting him asylum and locate him."

"That would be easy if we knew anything about who was hiding him," Johnson replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Maybe after the panel tomorrow, we'll…"

"Cancel it," Stanton interrupted. When they looked at her, she repeated, "Cancel the meeting until we get through to Galloway and figure out what he's been doing lately. We need his input if we are to go anywhere."

"Again, unfortunately she does have a point," Simmons said, and Alexis could see Simmons's jaw flex as he worked to repress from adding the inevitable insult to the end of his statement.

Johnson cut in before the argument could escalate. "Colonel, are you sure that you really want the panel postponed because of Galloway and not because you want time to break the rules and come here to participate yourself?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Stanton smiled thinly and said, "Oh, Mr. Johnson, I haven't been to the United States _at all_ in two years now… why would I come now?" Behind her, Lansford suddenly jerked, his face twisting slightly as though he had just experienced a sharp pain to the legs. Alexis was the only one who had noticed however that Lansford had been in the process of opening his mouth to speak when he had been interrupted.

"Very well… I will think over the possibility of postponing the panel, and the squadrons will move out once I have spoken to all commanding officers. Captain Preston," he said, and Alexis straightened in her seat to show she was paying attention. "You will take your squadron out, and possibly be moved to either the in Fort Deven in Massachusetts or, depending on events before your departure, to Santa Fe in New Mexico."

"Yes, sir," Alexis replied.

"Also, I should tell you that while Colonel Reynolds has agreed to stay, Major Chrisman stepped down because of problems with Reynolds… Chrisman's medically indisposed anyway," Johnson said, pulling out a printed email and examining it. "Apparently, someone hosted a midnight party for the officers last night, and clam chowder and shrimp snuck their way onto the menu without Chrisman's knowledge. Due to the extent of the damage, Chrisman will probably be in the hospital indefinitely," he said, looking up at her. "So, seeing that there is no major at the moment, would you be willing to take full command until Colonel Reynolds finds a replacement?"

Alexis knew she could've handled the job. Tom knew she could've handled the job. Stanton and Thayer also knew she wouldn't have had a problem with the job. Perhaps her failure to respond to Johnson was because of Cromwell's faster reflexes. "If it's no trouble, sir," Cromwell said before Alexis could say anything, "I would like to assume the position. Technically, I do not go on leave for another couple of months, and Lisa and I both agreed last night that it was best for the family if I stayed in service until that time so that I can continue to provide for her and Ethan, and take the responsibility off of Richard's shoulders."

"But we understand that you have not only entered combat situations in the last six years, but you even haven't seen your family in that same time. We're willing to compensate for your departure…" Johnson began.

"I insist," Cromwell interrupted calmly. "I can provide for my family without any assistance."

"I say let him do it. It's temporary for now right?" Simmons asked, glancing at Thayer.

"Correct. Colonel, any objections?" Thayer asked, looking up at Stanton, who frowned.

"You scoured his permanent record carefully for any gaps or little red flags?" she asked in a cool tone.

"Yes, colonel. There was nothing out of the ordinary other than the crash," Thayer said calmly. "The records are accessible for you, remember? He only faked the 2003 jet crash to continue his underground work in peace, and even has witnesses who can verify where he was at any given time."

"Silence and lies can be purchased for at the right price, and stuff like that isn't uncommon in the underground," Stanton snapped, leaning back in her chair. Alexis marveled slightly at Cromwell's silence throughout the accusations. His face remained expressionless, leading her to surmise that Cromwell's story must have been legitimate after all… people telling the truth with nothing to hide had no fear of investigations no matter how fierce.

Simmons saved them all from the oncoming storm by diverting it. "How would _you_ know what they do in the underground… unless you've consorted with criminals in the past?" he demanded, standing up slightly.

"I'm suddenly very glad that there are seven thousand, four hundred and fifty miles between us… how do you think Tom got free from the federal authorities two years ago, becoming available to leak information about Sector Seven to me?" Stanton asked smugly, grinning once she saw Simmons's infuriated expression.

"Ma'am? You may be far away, but I'm still in the same room as him," Tom said, looking at Simmons while scooting his chair away from the furious ex-agent.

"Simmons, Stanton, you may continue this argument over the phone so that we can use the military channels for more important business," Johnson interrupted. "Cromwell, the 35th MA Red Hawk squadron is under your command until we find someone permanent to take over. Thayer, see if the techs can't get Galloway on any kind of imaginable communication, including the radio. If he hasn't answered in twenty-four hours, then we're sending in a team to get through to him. Keller, I would appreciate it if you aided me on something concerning the Autobots. Wilson, on top of your current duty...

"Nope! I'm not going anywhere except the airport and the hospital," Tom replied stubbornly.

Major Cromwell stood up at this point, having been the only one to see Johnson's discreet dismissal. He gestured for Alexis to follow him, but she hesitated, wanting to speak to Tom further, especially about identity of the pilot.

"But Wilson…" she began.

"The sergeant stated earlier that he has a duty to perform. So let the man do his responsibility so you can do yours," Cromwell interrupted, once again gesturing for her to come with him. When she didn't immediately obey, he said, "Please don't make me turn it into an order."

Alexis reluctantly stood up while looking pleadingly at Tom, who gestured for her to go with Cromwell. "I'll find you later," he said before turning to Stanton's image. "I have to go to the infirmary… I'll call you later, ma'am," he said to Stanton, who was waiting impatiently for a chance to speak with Johnson. She nodded briefly.

That was the last thing Alexis saw because Cromwell had abruptly left the conference room. She darted quickly to fall in step behind him. Other personnel stood off to the side as Cromwell passed through, some showing respect, others barely concealing their dislike. At one point, Cromwell paused long enough to allow her to catch up to him. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he spoke. "I know how the officer rank scale works, but my lieutenant, Stryker Davis, will carry a higher precedent over you."

"Excuse me, sir?" Alexis asked, caught off guard. "I'm sure that you can't do that," she informed him.

"Actually, I spoke with Thayer, who said that not only was it permitted when the superior officer felt that it was necessary, but it has been done before. Sergeant Wilson is a non-commissioned officer is he not? Yet, he was allowed to serve as Stanton's second-in-command, correct?" Cromwell asked, looking at her.

"Yes, but," Alexis began.

"Thayer once told me that you worked well with your first second-in-command, and after a little poking around in the official records, it turns out that it was my lieutenant who was your former second-in-command. It all works out in the end," Cromwell said, leading her to his office entrance.

"No, it doesn't, and I'll explain once we're inside," Alexis said, barely able to keep her steadily rising temper under control. Apparently Cromwell wasn't aware of the danger he was putting all of them in.

"No, we can't," Cromwell replied smoothly as he unlocked his door and opened it.

"Why not?" Alexis demanded, but came to an abrupt stop at the sight in the office.

"_That's_ why," the major replied irritably.

At some point or another, Ari had gotten into the major's office. She was slumped in the major's chair behind the oak desk, feet propped up on the tabletop while she read a magazine. She didn't acknowledge either of them, not even when Cromwell cleared his throat somewhat loudly. Instead she flipped the page, too engrossed in whatever she was reading. She didn't react when Cromwell slammed a fist onto the tabletop even though Alexis jumped in surprise. Finally, Cromwell spotted the problem. He reached over to his computer and yanked the earphones out of the jack behind the monitor, and then shut down the music player.

Ari merely gave him what Alexis called the 'peeved' look. "Excuse me, mister, what did you do?" she asked, adopting what Alexis recognized as the Stanton tone.

Predictably, Cromwell looked startled at the treatment. "I think the question is more of what you're doing. I leave you alone for _one_ hour…" he snarled.

"Ari, why are you in here to begin with?" Alexis asked, walking up to the desk to look at her friend.

"He busted me earlier this morning for messing around with paper airplanes with Lucky… I was using Lucky's mail as the planes. I aimed for Max… _Stryker_, and hit Mrs. Cromwell instead," she said, putting her feet back onto the ground while closing the _US Weekly_ magazine.

"You know, Tyrone got hit with a paper airplane made from a letter last night," Alexis said, remembering the incident the night before. "You wouldn't know anything about _that_ would you?" she asked, leaning down on the table to look at her friend.

"Tyrone and I are the best of buds… I was just cranky last night and didn't want to chat long," Ari said, feigning hurt. "Hell, I was just about to teach Maxie the best way to cheat at Riley's poker game… that fangled one he came up with." When Alexis gave her a more probing expression, Ari leaned in and muttered loud enough for Cromwell to hear, "Major Idiot and I spent about three hours together, then he locked me up alone in here for one. I feel wicked sorry for the loser captain who has to deal with him."

"Thanks," Alexis said, looking at her friend.

"_You?_" Ari whispered back, clearly stunned. "But, I thought you or someone else liked him…"

"That would be Tyrone," Alexis clarified. "Listen, I want to talk to you about Major Chrisman later okay? But for now, if you'll please excuse us…"

"Outta here!" Ari squealed before Cromwell could swipe at her from where he was standing behind his desk. He had been checking his computer for any superficial tampering, and found quite a lot of damage, both subtle and obvious. He rolled his eyes and Alexis shrugged when they both heard Ari let out a yelp and thump as she ran into someone, and then they heard hurried apologies before more rapid footsteps.

"Talk about a bundle of energy," he said, reclaiming his chair and computer. He studied the screen and added, "Remind me at some point to install better security on this monitor so she can't mess with this again."

"Um, all right," Alexis said slowly as she sank down into one of the office chairs. She leaned forward and said, "Now, listen. There's something important you need to know about Stryker Davis…"

"I know he's really Starscream…I knew that when I was bringing him back into the country," Cromwell replied calmly as though they were merely talking about the weather today rather than an unpredictable, high-ranked Decepticon.

Alexis found her voice fast. "Then _why_ did you bring him back, lie about it later, shut me up when I was trying to talk, and then finally put your own family in danger?" she demanded. If Cromwell knew Starscream well, they both knew that the Decepticon would view Ethan and Lisa as valuable bargaining tools. Alexis wasn't going to put it past Starscream to do such a thing.

"It's… complicated," Cromwell answered, turning around from the computer to look at her. "First, I did not invite my family here… Tyrone, your second-in-command, had made inquiries into the Washington DC police department, and one of the officers knew Richard and Lisa extremely well. Richard told me that Tyrone had arranged for her and Ethan to come here. I am not sure if I am prepared to forgive him for bringing them here and presenting them as targets. When Starscream leaves, I will be sending them to a new home so that they'll be safe."

"Starscream is leaving? How long?" Alexis asked, momentarily putting aside the reasons as to Starscream's presence.

"I don't know how long… something about maintaining appearances for his commander. Having been present at the Hoover Dam when the commander, Megatron, was still encased in the liquid nitrogen, I don't blame Starscream for wanting to keep his commander happy," Cromwell replied, checking the monitor briefly. "As for why I helped him get here," he continued, looking at Alexis again, "We both stand to lose something valuable if someone rats Starscream out. I'm only telling you this so you can keep your mouth shut in the future."

Alexis scowled, and then asked, "Will you please elaborate further before I think you're up to something negative?"

"When I and a few other Sector Seven agents were working in Rome, our resident senior bioengineer got a little ambitious and became fascinated with energon, the Transformer life source. He and Sector Seven researcher Dina Morgan began to collaborate on a project that could make energon an alternate source of power for _us_. Then the engineer, John Wyndon, discovered that energon could possibly be used for botanical purposes as well," Cromwell explained, and Alexis had a sick feeling that this story didn't have a happy ending. Cromwell sighed, and then said, "That's when it all went downhill. John wanted the real energon, none of the synthesized stuff derived from old samples taken from Megatron when he was still in cryo-stasis. They'd been using the synthetic stuff for a while, but John told me he wanted the real deal for the best results in his experiments. I granted him permission, assigned a team to him, and then they went out in search of the two Decepticons that had been tearing around the city that day. As fate would have it, only two soldiers out of six returned to the base around one in the morning. One died two hours later, and the other lingered for another day or so, enough time to tell us what had happened. Somehow, word of John and Dina's work had leaked out the Decepticons, specifically Starscream, and they were interested to know that humans knew quite a bit about the very essence they'd been searching for. John had been ambushed on his way home after a fruitless hunt, his protectors were killed, and he was captured. They think that John can artificially produce it, but they needed it right away and couldn't wait for him, so Jordan happened." He fell quiet for another few minutes, and then said, "Like I said earlier, Starscream and I both lose something valuable if he is exposed. I lose John Wyndon, and Starscream loses us as manipulative tools in whatever the hell he was planning. On top of that, the military here would probably chase him out of America altogether, and he loses the sanctuary here."

"Whoa…that's quite a story," Alexis murmured softly. "Why didn't you guys chase after John after he'd been captured?" she asked.

"Because NEST teams were in the area by then, and we were trying to maintain anonymity and distance from them," Cromwell said quietly. "John was Richard's childhood friend, and I feel guilty for allowing him to be captured and not doing anything about it. By turning the tables on Starscream, I am _hoping_ to get him into a position where I would have the upper hand in bargaining."

"There's more to the deal than you're letting on right?" Alexis asked warily.

Cromwell nodded.

"You realize that is really stupid, right?" Alexis asked, and again Cromwell nodded.

"As someone unknown once said, 'you miss one hundred percent of the shots you never take,'" Cromwell quoted, a slight smile on his face. "Now, I believe you were explaining why you do not want Starscream to be your superior officer?"

"I'm a little apprehensive about him having power over my head," Alexis said somewhat bluntly. "Two years ago, I could keep some minimal control over what he was doing because he had to follow my orders."

"Do not worry about that," Cromwell said, folding his hands on top of the table. "If you have complaints about the way he's directing you or your squadron pilots, you will bring them to me and _I _will step in." He sighed, and then said, "Captain, will you please remember that?"

Alexis was quiet for a moment, thinking things briefly over. Finally she gave in. "Yes, sir," she replied quietly, looking down at the wooden surface of the table.

"Good. Dismissed, captain. I look forward to working with you," Cromwell said, and Alexis quietly stood up, saluted, and then left the room altogether.

She was still quiet as she walked down the hall away from Cromwell's office. She still wasn't happy that Starscream was in a more maneuverable position than last time, but she was just going to grit her teeth and bear it. As she thought about however, she decided that it all really came down to Starscream's attitude. He could have that stubborn streak that made it difficult for them both in the beginning two years ago, _or,_ he would have the same caring attitude he'd had towards the end of their working relationship. Either way, she would somehow try to prevent him from manipulating her… she remembered the day after he'd left, investigators had shown up in the hospital, her ID card in hand as they searched for the mysterious person who had broken into the Pentagon the night before. That brought her to another issue… how to start the conversation in the first place. Sure she asked first for the talk, but she didn't know how to start it. Hell, she didn't even know if Ari had gotten through to him or just antagonized him further.

Alexis let out a short breath in frustration as she rounded the corner, walking faster now. _If only Ari could stay focused for longer than a second in a non-combat situation…_

FWUMP!

"Ow!" Alexis yelped as she fell backwards after walking into something solid. Rubbing the back of her head, she blindly started to get up back to her feet, mentally preparing an apology in the meantime. The process was aided however when two strong arms took a grip on her left wrist and her back and pulled her back to her feet. He did not release her however when she was steady again.

"Thank you…" she began, looking up at the man she'd walked into, but her words caught in her throat when she recognized the man before her.

It may have been two years, but she would always recognize him.

Starscream smirked and asked, "Miss me?"

--------------------

Stryker was right. Taking the plan in stages was a good idea, and it was working beautifully.

Ari muttered to herself as she walked back to the mess hall. She had missed breakfast because of Lucky's poor sight and her suckish aim. Lucky thought he had seen Tyrone, she thought she had nabbed him with the envelope-paper airplane. Turned out that Lucky had been focusing on Cromwell, and she had accidentally hit the person next to him, who turned out to his wife. Lucky had faster reflexes, so he cleared out faster than her. Both Cromwell and his freaky brother-in-law had jumped her before she could get away from the crime scene.

To make the situation unfair, it had been dark in the early morning. She couldn't see a damn thing at that point, so of course she wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Cromwell and Maxwell.

It worked out in the end though. Stryker had been hanging around in Cromwell's office when the major had dragged her in by the elbow. Then the major left to ensure that his wife was all right after the six a.m. ambush, leaving the two of them in the office alone for a few minutes. It was plenty of time for Stryker though, who had a plan carefully laid out and awaiting her approval. After the few lines were rehearsed and roles memorized, it was time to act it out for real. The problem was that Ari was stuck for a grand total of four hours with Cromwell as punishment, the last one being served alone since he had a Very Important Meeting to attend at nine.

"Hey Maxwell," she said, skipping up to the spot next to Tyrone at the mess hall table. Tyrone gave her a wary expression and nodded in greeting. She casually sat down with her back facing the table, but she was turned to face him.

"What do you want, and no, I'm not going to continue our earlier argument," he snapped.

"I actually came to apologize for my behavior at the restaurant… I was still wound up from my long flight from southeastern Asia," Ari explained quietly. "So, I am sorry I acted like an ass at the restaurant that night." She hoped her face didn't betray how much pain she'd endured saying that... after the scalding argument at the restaurant during which he'd insulted her intelligence and overall competence, all she wanted to do was either make his life difficult, or ignore him completely.

Tyrone looked surprised, but nodded anyway. "Your apology is accepted," he replied warily.

"It's just, well, I never realized how important you were to Alexis, and now I see that you make her happy, and who am I to interfere with that sort of happiness?" she asked, and Tyrone relaxed once he realized that she wasn't about to hurt him further. "Of course, I would be one to talk, because _I_ just recently got engaged, the only problem being that my guy is still MIA."

"Oh… I'm sorry," Tyrone said in an awkward tone. He honestly had nothing to say to that… if anything, he felt foolish for chewing Aliskevicz out at the Chinese place. "So, what else brings you here?" he asked, changing the subject while wondering if harmony between them was suddenly remotely possible.

"Lexi's wedding. I wanna help plan it," Ari replied, twisting around in her seat to face him better. "When are you planning to propose?"

"I was thinking on her birthday… unless you have a better idea?" Tyrone said, glancing around to make sure that Alexis or one of the other squadron pilots wasn't around in the mess hall.

"You're going to wait two months until November to do that?" Ari asked skeptically, but shrugged anyway. "Sounds cool… where are you going to propose?"

"Didn't think _that _far ahead… do you have any ideas?" Tyrone asked curiously.

"Hell yeah… why don't we discuss this over a latte or two at this great coffee shop that I know about… that way, we don't have to worry about Lexi scaring us or anything," Ari suggested, getting up and gesturing for him to follow her.

"Good idea," Tyrone agreed, and closed his thick notebook and walked with her towards the exit.

'_Okay, Davis, you've got about three hours tops… especially since we're going to the only coffee place in the world with the slowest service. Make extremely good use of them',_ Ari thought anxiously as she led Tyrone from the mess hall towards the base exit. It was a good thing that Tyrone didn't know of her nature or track record… any other street-smart pilot would have immediately declined the invitation. She would have to wait for Stryker's 'all-clear' phone call before allowing Tyrone to come back, and she hoped she wouldn't have to drag Tyrone into clothing stores on the pretense of getting a tuxedo for the wedding.

She was going to get strangled by somebody for this. If not Tyrone, then Alexis. If not her, then Tyrone.

One of them at least.

---------------

A/N: As an F.Y.I, I'm not making up an incident from Rome… it's written in further detail (if you're interested) in The Veiled Threat by Alan D. Foster. What happened in Rome is not critical to this story so don't worry too much about it.


	9. Jardín du Fleur

Nine

Jardín de la Fleur

Starscream did not immediately release her wrist from his grip. For two heartbeats he scanned her over, and Alexis felt as though he was merely trying to refresh his own memory of her appearance but she supposed she would never know what his real thought process was. When he felt content that she was truly steady on her feet and wasn't going to fall down in surprise at seeing him again, he finally released her wrist. "Let's go somewhere a little more public… one thing that hasn't changed about humans in the last two years is that a conversation in a deserted hallway is a cause for suspicion," he finally said, gesturing for her to follow him. Alexis hesitated, briefly glanced past him into the mess hall to see if Tyrone was within sight, and upon not seeing him, she nodded mutely in acceptance of Starscream's innocent invitation.

She followed him out of the facility itself, careful to keep pace with Starscream's stride. Mentally she was scrambling for something to say that wasn't too rude or inquisitive yet satisfied her curiosity. Alexis only relaxed when she remembered an old friend's wise words; _what's done is done, so just wait and see the outcome... besides, the worst thing that can happen in a conversation is that you get a rude interruption._

Alexis repressed the laugh, remembering that the last line had been said after Ari had not so gracefully crashed into the conversation… literally. Alexis and her friend had been sitting on a F-22 wing while Riley had started physically fighting with Ari on the other side, and Ari had attempted to use the cockpit hatch to gain a height advantage only to slip and fall backwards. Alexis and her friend were the only reasons Ari hadn't gone over the wing edge to the ground.

That was back in 2004, before the peace had been disrupted.

"How have you been?" Starscream asked quietly as they navigated out of the crowded building and through a choked Washington DC street. To any other passersby, it would appear as though he was asking an innocent question that always passed between two friends who haven't seen each other in ages. To Alexis however, it was the beginning of a long-awaited conversation.

"I guess I'm fine, but could be better," she answered, still watching where she was going. She looked up at him and found him to be looking back. Now that she had better lighting, she could see that he had decided not to change most of his facial features except for a small scar across his eye. Now that she had seen his true form, she knew that the darkness of his eyes came from the brown of an attempt to cover the red from his true form.

"Better?" he repeated, as though aware of the unspoken agreement to keep the sensitive information private until they were in a little more secluded area.

Alexis did not mention the dark times that had unexpectedly followed the months after his abrupt departure. Instead she said, "It was… hard adjusting to a squadron where everyone was a stranger, and entering what I thought was a close-knit group. A few weren't ready to accept me to begin with, but they, uh, got over it soon." No need to mention the slow process of integration. She looked down before asking, "How about you?"

She looked up in time to see his face twist into a grimace. "As you stated before, I could be better… _much_ better," he said through gritted teeth, the last two words being muttered under his breath.

"Things going that bad?" she asked, thinking of Jordan.

Starscream scowled and said, "You have no idea." He directed her into the gardens where there were people present, but not enough to cause worry of being overheard. Alexis wryly noted that it was the same place she'd been there the night before.

"Jordan?" she asked, knowing that if that wasn't the biggest sore spot, then it had to be one of the biggest.

She was right. Starscream snarled softly while looking out towards the people milling about nearby. "I would normally say to mind your own business, but knowing you, you're going to persist the issue, if not through me, then through other means. I learned my lesson well when you hacked into the general's files to access my information," he said, turning to face her. She grimaced; she'd always assumed she had safely gotten away with that… obviously not. "As for Jordan, it is safe to assume that you won, and get to live another couple of years or so seeing that my master needs to start from scratch again…" he said, still glowering.

"And you're leaving soon to help him even though you apparently didn't like him very much the last time we talked about him?" Alexis interrupted, raising an eyebrow. At his questioning look, she said, "He told me that you were leaving soon to maintain appearances or something like that."

"Cromwell talks too much," Starscream said crossly. "I don't like his wife very much either… she seems to encourage this rebelliousness in him."

"She's just looking out for him, that's all," Alexis corrected, attempting to soothe his temper. "Now what exactly happened in Jordan?"

Starscream heaved a sigh and said, with some reluctance, "It was merely another clash between our factions over yet another object sacred to us," he replied. He smirked and said, "Nothing you would be interested in."

"Simmons said something about harvesting our sun for energon, and then Cromwell said the same thing afterwards. What was that all about?" Alexis asked, hoping to catch him on something that seemed to be an undeniable fact amongst the superiors.

"_I_ wasn't doing that… I was busy doing one of the things I do best and was harassing the Autobots, who had the audacity to challenge _me…"_ Starscream began

"They had some _nerve_ to do that," Alexis interrupted sarcastically. "Fine, if you were so busy harassing the Autobots, what were your comrades doing?"

"Weakening the opposition so it was easier," Starscream replied in a tone that suggested he wasn't going to be saying much more for now.

Alexis let it slide… for now. She knew he wasn't going to tell her everything right away. She switched topics, asking, "You went back home two years ago to help rebuild your home… how did that go?" she asked, mentally surmising that it didn't go very well considering the fact that he decided to return to Earth despite the fact he despised the planet.

Starscream rolled his eyes and said, "It could've gone better… if the Autobots hadn't interfered." Alexis narrowed her eyes when he looked away; he wasn't leveling with her one hundred percent, and they both knew it. She hoped that there was another Transformer, maybe an Autobot, who knew of his failed attempt to rebuild their homeworld. At least she learned not to take everything he said at face value.

She was about to ask something else when the bright blue patch on Starscream's uniform caught her eye. She felt a tug on her heart when she recognized the 401st insignia. "You kept it after all these years?" she asked, gesturing to the symbol.

"Why would I not?" he asked, lowering his voice so that the three administrators nearby couldn't hear them. "I do have some positive memories of working alongside humans."

"Really now?" Alexis asked, her eyes twinkling slightly. "What _positive_ memories could a Decepticon commanding officer could have when it come to consorting with mere humans?"

"Unfortunately a few," Starscream replied, looking a little pained. "That pesky raccoon for starters, blowing out the hangar wall in an attempt to get the cables back, the nighttime race, messing with Aliskevicz's mind…"

"Or when we were forced to work together, the run through the Hoover Dam…" Alexis added, a smile quirking at the corner of her mouth.

"Or the attempted assassination on your life," Starscream quietly added. "I… didn't think I was going to catch you when you were falling."

Alexis shivered at the reminder of her close brush with death. "Any more?" she asked, pushing the morbid thoughts away into the back of her mind.

"Yeah… attacking Jackson that one time the Fifty-first had been there," Starscream replied, making a face at the mention of the old captain. "There was also…"

"Stryker!" a young voice suddenly shouted, drawing Alexis and Starscream's attention away from each other. Alexis repressed a laugh as Ethan Cromwell ran up to the pair of them, covered in mud. "Stryker, guess what?" he said excitedly, coming to a stop in front of them. He suddenly spotted Alexis, and immediately offered a salute. "Please excuse me, ma'am," he said respectfully, his eyes zeroing in on her insignia.

"You're excused, we were just finishing up anyway," Alexis said, glancing at Starscream, whose expression had settled into a neutral appearance. "I will leave…"

"No," Starscream interrupted. "Ethan, where is your mother?" he asked, warily casting an eye around for Mrs. Cromwell.

"That's the thing! She's out with Dad, and I ditched Uncle Richard, so you can take me up in your F-22 now!" Ethan said, grinning broadly.

"Sorry, but I don't want to risk your mother's wrath," Starscream explained to the young boy. "Perhaps you should find your uncle again before he becomes upset with you for running off like that." He raised an eyebrow and said, "Besides, we shouldn't talk about stuff like that in front of your father's subordinate when she can easily report us both in to him."

Ethan gave her a wide-eyed look before tearing off into the garden again. Alexis watched him leave, remembering what she had told Tyrone the night before about wanting her own family. She sensed Starscream turn to look at her watching the boy leave.

"You wish for your own offspring," Starscream suddenly guessed, and she knew he was analyzing her reaction, so she tried to control her facial expressions, but failed.

"It's something that most women here want, Screamer," she replied, casting up a side-glance at him. He looked thoughtful, and Alexis could only imagine what he was thinking. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be pretty…

"Whom do you see as your… husband?" he asked, careful to keep his voice down as two officers walked by them.

Was he testing her? Alexis certainly felt like he was. "I… guess I haven't really thought about it," she said carefully. She hadn't brought the subject of children up with Tyrone at all; she didn't know how long he was going to stay with her. It was also a subject that men seemed to dance around when it came up in a conversation on a date, and she didn't want to scare Tyrone off at all. She also wasn't ready to tell him about Tyrone either… not after hearing about his involvement at Jordan. If he was anything like she remembered, he was probably still cooling off from his faction's defeat.

Starscream was silent for a moment, and then said, "Well, I have to go to now, and I'm sure you have to be elsewhere too… Major Cromwell will be giving you your assignment tomorrow morning… try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone."

"What's my incentive? You are only a first lieutenant after all so I could disobey you and pretend that I forgot about the conditions the major had set…" Alexis reminded him although she was well aware of the arrangements Cromwell had made. She kept her tone light and playful; the thoughts of Starscream's reaction to Tyrone's role in her life was still making her worried, although why she thought Starscream would care in the first place was a little mystifying even to her. Tyrone already knew about Starscream's past with her, but had never voiced his reaction to her.

She was going to keep the two of them apart. That was the only solution.

Starscream didn't seem to notice her silence. He took hold of both of her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Incentive?" he said softly, picking up on her earlier words. "You want incentive to listen to me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not if it involves my squadron or any ex-401st pilot," Alexis clarified, mentally checking to make sure that the people she held dear were safe.

He shrugged. "I'll think of something, just not right now," he said. He hesitated, tightened his grip on her arms and said, "Here is your first order from me. Do _not_ take any more strangers into your confidence… Major Cromwell is the last. Do not trust anyone until I have given the say-so."

She stared at him. "Are you trying to control me _already?"_ she demanded, forcefully jerking out of his grip, and then ignored her protesting shoulders. "You can't dictate every little action for me, superior or not…" she said, backing when he tried to approach her again.

"You have to trust me this one time Alexis Marie Preston," Starscream calmly said, and she flinched at the use of her full name, including a middle name she hadn't heard in years. She knew how he got a hold of that… _legitimate_ military records held no lies. "It's for your personal safety," he added when she didn't immediately respond.

"It still all comes down to trust, doesn't it?" Alexis asked, looking at him. "Last time, I believed you in almost everything you said, and you still manipulated me… I know about the Pentagon penetration and how you used me in that scheme. They nearly arrested _me_ for that. Afterwards, I felt like an idiot and something insignificant that was _used._"

"Alexis, this is ridiculous. Calm down," Starscream quietly ordered, and she sensed that he was getting annoyed. He never handled irritation well, she remembered that much.

Alexis let a breath loose through her teeth while running a hand through her hair. The last thing they needed was Starscream to lose his temper while in DC… she wanted Cromwell to get his friend back as much as Cromwell did. "Sorry… _why_ do you want me to listen to you?" she asked, remembering how well her listening to him turned out last time.

Starscream seemed to carefully consider the question, and then he replied, "I want to see you alive, not dead."

Alexis stared at him, trying to gauge if he was dead serious or if once again she suddenly had some worth to him alive than dead. "Why the need for control? I beginning to wonder if you made a deal with Cromwell so that you could have some, measure of control over me which makes me wonder, did you make some new enemies over the last two years?" she asked, still gauging his expressions.

"Of course not. No new enemies, just the same, frustrating and tiring ones," he said, approaching her so that they were close to each other. Before she could wonder as to what he was doing, he reached up and touched her cheek lightly with his fingertips and then carefully traced her jawbone. Alexis had nothing to say at the unexpected physical contact, but instead held her breath as he then pulled his hand away, his fingers lightly brushing her chin before he placed his hand into his pocket. Then there was a moment of an awkward silence between them before Starscream said, "Well, you seem to have recovered well from your injuries at the base explosion two years ago."

Alexis knew instinctively that what he said was a lie. Physically she'd recovered, but for some odd reason, his departure had affected her more than she'd anticipated. "Actually," she began slowly, working to muster the courage to get the words out. Starscream, sensing the hesitation, leaned in slightly as though to hear her better. "Listen, something happened when you left, and it's that…" she began.

"Alexis!" a male voice suddenly shouted.

Alexis froze at Tyrone's voice and Starscream made a brief snarling expression before turning to face the newcomer. Tyrone was disheveled, his hair a disorganized mess, and quite irritated at someone or something. Alexis was somewhat surprised to see Ari toddling along behind him, grinning cheekily like a child who did something very bad but had a blast while doing it. Without acknowledging Starscream's presence, Tyrone came up to Alexis and said, "We need to have Aliskevicz arrested."

"Wha…why?" Alexis said, caught off guard by Tyrone's announcement.

"She had to have stolen her driver's license… she drives like a maniac, was speeding, and so there is no way she could've passed the test," Tyrone answered, glaring at Ari, who offered a bigger grin. "She can't navigate either… we were across the Chesapeake Bay when she finally admitted that she was lost and had no idea where she was going."

"Oh no," Starscream said, catching Tyrone's attention. "That's how she usually drives. You were just a fool to get in the car with her in the first place," Starscream continued, keeping his tone light and conversational.

"Did you know that?" Tyrone asked Alexis, who nodded.

"I just didn't know that the two of you went off this morning," she said when Tyrone offered an injured expression, the one she could never resist.

"So, uh, I guess we meet again, lieutenant," Tyrone said, turning back to Starscream. He offered a sheepish smile and said, "I didn't know you knew my captain, sir."

Starscream offered an innocent smile and said, "I didn't know that Captain Preston was your captain, Maxwell." Alexis swore that the innocent smile discreetly turned into a not-so-innocent smirk before Starscream said while still using a cordial tone, "I don't think we were properly introduced before when you went to see Major Cromwell. My name is First Lieutenant Stryker Davis."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Tyrone said, offering his hand. Starscream smiled while shaking it. Alexis flicked a glance to Ari, who had two chunks of her hair wrapped into her fists in a gesture that suggested she was waiting for something drastically bad to happen. She made eye contact with Alexis, and then released her hair while grinning sheepishly.

"So," Ari said suddenly, looking around as though caught in the throes of a sugar rush. Still grinning she wrapped one arm around Starscream, and then another around both Alexis and Tyrone at once, and Alexis felt as though some of the hidden tension in the air had diminished. "The whole gang is _almost_ here, maybe we should have a get-together, you know something informal," Ari said, lowering her voice as to not attract the attention of some nearby personnel. "You know, we could invite Mackerson, Jackson, Montez, Williams, Skye if she's not busy, any other ex-401st guys maybe…"

"Ari, you're babbling now, please, just be quiet… people are staring," Alexis whispered loudly to catch her friend's attention. Tyrone, crunched in between the pair of them, turned to look at Alexis in gratitude before he straightened to shake Ari off.

"Sorry, I had a two grand lattes… whoops!" Ari yelped as she suddenly fell off to the side, Starscream mysteriously gone from his place. "Hey, where'd did Stryker go?" Ari whimpered after completing a backwards side-shoulder roll to avoid hurting herself. "I could've sworn he was here a second ago," she grumbled as she rubbed her back.

Alexis personally was surprised that Starscream had dared to switch off his hologram while in public; he must've been desperate to get away from Ari while she was in one of her moods.

What was said between them didn't bother her as much as what was left unspoken.

* * *

**U have permission 2 leave**

"Sergeant Wilson finally learned how to text," Lucas Roxbury observed as the driver pulled up to the hangars in the Air Force base in New Jersey. "Folks, we have an apocalyptic moment here…" he added, careful to lie on the sarcasm for the benefit for the backseat passenger. He grinned at the snort of amusement from the backseat, and then tucked the cell phone away into his pocket as the driver, a man named Gabriel Johnson, pulled Lucas's beloved Jeep to a stop. Lucas had had issues in the beginning about allowing others to drive his Jeep, but he was over them now… to a certain extent.

"How did they get here so fast?" Gabriel asked curiously, gesturing to the small group of six people who were waiting at the hangar doors. "I could've sworn we got a headstart over them…"

"I asked for your buddy to round up three of them earlier, and the other two were in the area to begin with," Lucas explained as he opened the car door. "Now be careful when getting the cargo out… you nicked the blue paint when you were getting it into the back."

Gabriel muttered some choice words about the Jeep as the passenger in the backseat climbed out. "Well, it's not my fault that your wife has the eyes of a hawk and the temper of a boar," Gabriel snapped as he too opened the door and slipped out into the chilly early evening air. He slammed the door shut to demonstrate his irritation and walked over to the back to deal with the cargo.

Lucas nodded absently as he watched the backseat passenger walk towards the group of six near the entrance to the hangar. "Plug your ears… it's going to get real nasty real fast," he muttered to Gabriel, who frowned but stopped wedging the crate out so he could plug his ears as advised.

As Lucas anticipated, there was a loud howl of indignation once the Jeep passenger had gone over to get a sense of the identities of the other six-team members. Gabriel shook his head sadly as the sounds of a brief argument drifted over to the two men. "Where is that SmartCart that was promised?" he asked, balancing the crate on the edge of the Jeep's trunk

"Max should have it… he's going to help you with the crate," Lucas explained, steadying the crate as it wobbled dangerously on the edge of the vehicle.

"I would love to know how you got this thing from wherever to your restaurant all by yourself," Gabriel grumbled as the two men watched as another burly figure walked towards them.

"I had help at first… and the cargo wasn't as heavy then," Lucas answered as Max came to them, pushing the rickety SmartCart. Lucas raised an eyebrow at the Logan Airport logo on the side but didn't comment. "Now I was thinking, if we just balance this thing and move slowly, we can get it to the jet without a problem," he said, helping the men by steadying the cart while Gabriel and Max both balanced the crate onto the cart, which gave a squeak in protest to the heavy weight placed upon it.

"Do you have a way to maintain control?" Max asked curiously as he began to push the cart with Gabriel and Lucas carefully holding it to maintain balance. It didn't help that the contents of the crate was now wide-awake thanks to the shouting earlier, and was shuffling around inside.

"Yeah, but hopefully I won't need to use it," Lucas grumbled as the cart drew closer to other mission participants. "It's high tech and semi-legally acquired. It pays to know at least two people who happens to have somewhat unrestricted access to the military armory, which includes stuff for riot control."

"You needed riot control stuff?" Gabriel whispered as they approached the remaining six people. "How, um, necessary is this?"

"You'll see when we get there," Lucas muttered, signaling Max to stop moving and help Gabriel balance the crate. He walked over to where the argument between two 'teammates' was in full swing, and said rather loudly, "That is quite enough, thank you. The two of you will cooperate even if it kills both of you all right?"

"She dared pull the rank card on me!" the passenger from earlier wailed, looking upset.

"Good for her. Now let's move along… we need the times to work for us," Lucas instructed, ushering the passenger along into the main hangar. He nodded respectfully to the others before asking, "Everyone still committed to this? I can't have people bailing on me during the mission."

One of the men raised his hand. Once Lucas acknowledged him, he said, "You realize that if we don't get killed during the mission, we'll all get thrown into jail once we get back right?"

"Way to be optimistic," someone else, most likely the lovely young lady he'd recruited from Rand Corporation muttered darkly as her friend shuffled nervously.

"You realize that I've already been arrested by the FBI once right? And it wasn't even my fault," the friend said anxiously.

"Better start praying they don't catch you again…they hate repeat offenders," Max said evilly from Lucas's side. Lucas elbowed him in the gut to make him quiet, and then Max walked away, grumbling as he helped Gabriel carry the crate into the hangar. Assuming everything was in place, Lucas knew that there was a C-17 carrier waiting for them in there. He watched as the others headed inside as well, but one, a friend of sorts, remained. He didn't need to see her face to know that she was displeased with him.

Lucas didn't beat around the bush. "I'm driving," he informed her.

She scoffed slightly, and then asked, "Roxbury, you haven't flown _anything_ in four years. A C-17 isn't like a F-22 Raptor… it's bigger and requires more care when flying."

"I suppose you have flown a C-17 before?" he countered, hoping to keep his position as leader here. "Besides, my hands will remember once I take the controls again."

She gave him a 'what-do-you-think' look, and he now knew for sure that she had stayed in the Air Force after all these years in the end. Then again, if Arianna Aliskevicz could make it in the military this long without a safety net, the woman before him would have had no problem whatsoever. "Well, just so you know, _I _don't trust your flying skills… or what's left of them," she informed him as she picked up her pack to walk into the hangar.

"You didn't have to come," Lucas reminded her.

She stopped and sighed. "I only agreed to this because it's important," she said, slinging the pack over her shoulder. "Now, am I piloting or not?" she asked.

"How does shotgun sound?" Lucas asked as he began walking into the hangar. "It's shotgun or nothing," he added before she could get a word in edgewise.

There was silence, and then finally she said, "_Fine._ Have it your way." With that she followed him into the hangar.

Lucas did a mental headcount as he walked in. As far as he knew, everyone was accounted for. The late night air traffic controller checked his log as a C-17 carrier requested permission to leave New Jersey. According to the logs, two Air Force officials had granted permission for one C-17 to leave around this time, so the controller gave the okay for take-off.

-----------------

A/N: The chapter title is French for 'Flower Garden', and the title came from a song off of the score for the film _House of the Flying Daggers._


	10. Diego Garcia

Ten

Diego Garcia

The sky was darkening from twilight to pure night as the lone C-17 carrier plane cut through the warm air. Hundreds of thousands of feet below, the Indian Ocean seemed to stretch endlessly for miles, seamlessly melding into the sky at the horizon. Above the carrier, the sky had begun to reveal the stars, glittering orbs in the unreachable heavens. The world itself, it seemed, was for once at peace with itself and its inhabitants.

Lucas couldn't say the same about the interior of the plane.

_We're going to need another plane or two,_ he thought gloomily from his seat in the C-17 cockpit. The prime yet secret reason was that he would be able to split his team up and lessen the amount of arguments flying between the unwilling teammates. The reason he'd given his copilot, an energetic woman named Kina Skye, was that the specs he had on the vehicles they'd be picking up included a Peterbilt-semi, a GMC Topkick, and a H2 Hummer, the three 'giants' of the eleven vehicles in question. Tobias had called again as they were about to fire up the C-17 in New Jersey to warn Lucas that the other vehicles included a silver Stingray and a Chevrolet Volt, two very fast, very expensive vehicles. Then there were three motorcycles, all belonging to a set of triplets who would not appreciate any dings to the bikes. The last three were a yellow '09 Camaro and two smaller Chevrolets, one red, one green.

Lucas wasn't worried about the possibility that the cars were under high security. He had that all taken care of.

"Sir?"

Lucas turned in his seat to face Mark Dennison, their navigator who was still wearing the same sour expression he'd had since they left. Lucas knew why he was here… ever since departure Mark had repeated his dire warning about impending arrest for such an unlawful action. He had been the one in New Jersey who scared the hacker Glen Whitmann by first mentioning arrest, leading Glen to start having daytime nightmares about the FBI interrogation room. "If you're here to warn me about death or prison…" Lucas began warningly.

"I wasn't, but I guess I will since you just reminded me. Don't forget, assuming we live through all this, I am very sure we'll get arrested for this," Mark said crankily before adding, "You are also 0.5325 degrees off course. Such an infinitesimally small number can mess up the whole run. If you don't alter your course now, you're going to miss the runway for sure."

"Didn't you already say that?" Kina Skye asked from her seat without looking away from the window before her. The microphone near her mouth had amplified her voice, and Lucas could see from his position that she was scowling. She was still a little sore from having lost the argument with him over who was going to be piloting, especially since Lucas did discover that he did need more refreshers before attempting to pilot.

"No, I said that we were _0.5001_ degrees off course, you two just made it worse," Mark retorted crossly.

"Are you going to start telling me how to do my job now?" Kina asked in the calm voice that always preceded the storm.

"Nope! I don't want to go to prison," Mark said, turning on his heel and walking back into the cabin. Lucas shut the door behind him and then returned to his seat, and then sat down beside Kina, silence once again reclaiming the cockpit. He glanced at his copilot, who he hadn't seen in four years. The last time he did see her, she was only a lieutenant keeping a rein of some sort on Aliskevicz. In fact the last thing he'd seen before leaving Area 51 that morning was Kina, Alexis, and Ari all huddled together on a F-22 wing as they awaited for some kind of news. The immediate days after Oroville had been full of either false news or no news. After he'd left the squadron though, Lucas never knew what happened to each pilot.

Well, they still had time before arrival.

"So," he said casually to catch Kina's attention. "Keep in contact with anyone over the last few years?"

"Yeah… whom do you want to hear about?" she asked as she carefully adjusted the C-17's flight pattern. She hesitated, and then explained, "Mr. Keller disbanded the Four-oh-first two years ago, months after Mission City. Everybody got scattered, so it was harder to keep track of where everyone went."

"Okay then," Lucas said, sensing that details weren't going to come easily. "Your two pals first. How about Aliskevicz?" he asked, remembering the bright-eyed troublemaker when she first signed on. Thankfully, he'd only been cursed with one year with her… anymore and he would have had to go to extreme measures to make her cooperate peacefully with her teammates. "Still knocking around?" he asked, glancing at Kina.

Kina nodded. "Sent me a sixteen-page, double-sided letter in February ranting on and on about Autobots, London, and a case of motorphobia, so she's still alive. Alexis and I have been keeping more regular contact, and she said that Ari has a bad case of policophobia," she said, checking a few monitors.

"Polico… what?" Lucas repeated the odd word, knowing it was a fear but of what he didn't know.

"Policophobia, fear of the police," Kina clarified. She leaned forward and adjusted something else. "Apparently, the first encounter with this particular officer also happened to be the one day I wasn't paying attention to Aliskevicz."

"How about Preston?" Lucas asked, struggling to bring up the face of the pilot in question. Having arrived a year before Aliskevicz, Preston proved to be among the quietest of the team members. At first, she appeared to him as one of those people who wished to remain safe in the background, but with a little coaxing, she soon became one of the sharp-tongued members. This only resulted from having Stanley Wassermann as a flight partner. Lucas never blamed Alexis for that because Stanley didn't get along with most of the women on the squadron. The first conversation he'd ever had with Preston was when Kina had been showing the ropes to her, and had dragged the young pilot over to their table in the mess hall. That took place six months after Preston had arrived.

Kina was quiet as though thinking her answer over. "She's doing good…I'm going to see her when I go back to DC after this mission," she replied. "Alexis doesn't know it yet though, so it'll be a nice surprise."

Before Lucas could speak again, the door to the cockpit opened and Mark stuck his head in again. "Whoever is piloting is doing a crappy job… we're now 0.3224 degrees off the mark," he snapped crossly.

"The next time you make some _remark_ about my piloting," Kina warned, turning around in her seat, "I'm going to take that calculator of yours and toss it out the window if that's what it's going to take to get you to knock it off." She turned to Lucas and said in a strained voice, "Please let _me_ handle the flying before you crash into the ocean and kill us all."

"I would do as she says," Mark added in an ominous tone.

"We're coming in to land anyway," Lucas said, glancing out the cockpit window. "Skye, take the controls. Mark, sit down before you give her an opportunity to cause harm," he ordered, flipping the appropriate switches as he eased the C-17 out of autopilot and began to guide it towards the darkened landing strip.

Mark didn't walk away like he should have. "I sincerely hope that you have the appropriate amount of bail money," he warned before walking away. At that moment however, the whole plane jerked violently, closely followed by a thump and a yelp. "What the hell was that for?" Mark shouted from the cabin.

"That was turbulence genius!" Kina shouted back. "If you had been sitting and were buckled in like you were _supposed _to, it wouldn't have affected you!" She made a growling sound before muttering, "Besides, I thought backseat drivers were just a common annoyance in the car, not a plane."

"I have a challenge," Lucas said as he focused on the light-lined runway to Diego Garcia. "How about you refrain from any further arguments for the duration of the trip?"

"I won't _start_ anything for the duration of the trip," Kina clarified, bracing herself as the C-17 bumped as it came to a landing on the strip. The pair remained silent as they slowed the plane down, as they got closer to the base itself. "How do you plan to do this?" she asked as the plane finally came to a stop outside the few buildings. "I'm a little worried that we haven't been caught by security yet."

"I'll explain in a few minutes," Lucas said as he took off his helmet and unstrapped himself from his seat. "Just do me a favor and don't question what I say," he added as she stood up from her seat, having undone her own harnesses before him.

"Sure," she said before picking up her small pack from its place near her seat. "What do you plan to do once we arrive back in the States?" she asked as he pressed the key activation code for the C-17's ramp to lower down.

"I don't know, I'm sort of making this up as I go along," Lucas admitted as he left the cockpit with Kina close behind. He grabbed a small black case on his way out.

The rest of the 'team' had assembled on the landing strip by the time Kina and Lucas had left as well. Mark was still scowling and rubbing a spot on his head, Maggie Madsen from Rand Corporation was soothing Glen Whitmann's worries about the FBI finding out about this, Max and Gabriel were still balancing the crate on the SmartCart, Riley Mackerson, the voluntary Jeep passenger, was peering inside the crate as though to get a better look, and then finally the British paramedic Rose Connelly was watching Lucas, her face devoid of any emotion. They were all wearing dark gray uniforms, an attempt to blend into the shadows of the night better.

"Okay guys," he said, capturing all of their attentions. "So, in order to minimize the risks of getting caught," he began to say.

"This should be good, seeing that we're already doomed," Mark muttered loud enough to be heard, but Lucas chose to ignore him.

"As I was saying, in order to minimize the chances of getting caught," Lucas tried again, "We should split up. Max and Gabriel, you two are going to take the crate and come with me. Miss Connelly, I would appreciate it if you came as well." After receiving some kind of acknowledgement from the aforementioned people, he said, "Kina, you're going to take Riley, Mark, Maggie and Glen to gimmick the security cams in the control room or whatever and establish that as a kind of operation center. If necessary, warn us of any approaching personnel. Now, are there any objections?"

"How come I can't come with the action group? You wasted my talents already by making me the communications guy. I was bored the entire trip since there was no one to talk to!" Riley said, ignoring Kina's scowl. "You guys have only four people!"

"We have five, trust me," Lucas assured the irate pilot. "Besides, I need you to find another C-17 to commandeer, the one we have isn't going to be enough. We may even need a third, I'm trying to spread out the eleven vehicles we're picking up," Lucas explained, ignoring Riley's stunned expression. "We'll hopefully get some more pilots who will be able to assist you and Skye."

"We're doing Grand Auto Theft from the _military?" _Glen asked, obviously panicked at the thought. "We'll get thrown in for _life_…"

"If we don't get caught, we should be fine, like Roxbury said," Maggie interrupted.

"Miss Madsen, I already told you on the way here that our warrants have been signed and sealed the moment we agreed to come along," Mark said, looking unamused. "Do I need to tattoo it on my forehead to help all you dimwits remember?"

"Why did you come then, Mark? If you are so convinced of the outcome, then why did you come?" Lucas snapped.

"Because I was unaware of the team roster when I signed up," Mark said stiffly. "But, seeing that _no one_ is listening to me, I suppose I will be quiet for the remainder of the trip."

"All right, everyone has their mission objectives… Riley! Get back here!" Lucas shouted when he spotted the wayward pilot investigating some of the shadowy shapes of the other jets on the base.

"Sorry Roxbury, just wanted to see what kind of hardware they had here other than C-17s," Riley apologized, walking back to the group. "They've got not only F-22s, but three SR-71 Blackbirds, three C-17s not including ours, and a Black Hawk. Betcha they've got more too. They're armed to the teeth here," he added as he began to follow Kina and the other four members of the group. "Hey, next time you have this sort of thing, can I go with the action group?"

"Careful what you wish for, you might just get it," Kina warned as they rounded the corner into the side entrance. Lucas shook his head and gestured for the others to follow him.

"Come on, we've got work to do. Careful with the SmartCart," he said before walking towards the main complex. His group held the passwords for the complex that would get them in because Kina's group had the two hackers.

This was going to be an interesting operation.

* * *

Neither Lucas nor Stanton was aware of the other party within the same building. While he was there to spring some people out illegally, she was about to attempt the same thing albeit _legally_. The hallway was barely lit as Stanton walked calmly through towards Galloway's office. He had provided the route description to Diego Garcia, and then to his office. Lansford, watchful as ever, trailed her behind, scanning the shadows and walls carefully as though expecting a trap. He needn't have worried about Stanton pulling something on him; the time zones were finally beginning to take their toll on her and she was working to stay awake. If Galloway were feeling merciful tonight, he'd let her sleep a bit before talking.

"What the hell?" Lansford suddenly yelped, jumping back. Stanton whirled, pulling her gun out in the process and aimed it square at…

"A toy truck?" Lansford asked disbelievingly as he looked down at the remote-controlled vehicle that was zipping around their feet now, making the high-pitched whining sound that had initially startled Lansford. "I thought you said this was a military base, not a child's playhouse," he said, narrowing his eyes at Stanton.

Stanton knelt down to examine to truck better, which stopped right in front of her. "I don't think that's a toy, but more of someone's idea of a good joke," she snarled, an ill feeling rising in her gut and encountering the exhaustion. "Which is why they have two _seconds_ to back off or I'll have something for target practice," she said coldly while standing up and looking down.

The truck, or the guy operating the truck, took the hint and speedily left the hallway.

"I do not understand everything that is going on here, but I'm just going to go along with it," Lansford said, his menacing personality dropping for a few moments. He looked at the colonel quizzically and asked, "You still want me to believe the Autobot story, don't you?"

"That would be nice, make things a hell of a lot easier," Stanton grumbled as she walked towards the office door, listening to the surrounding environment. For a military base housing giant aliens, it was oddly quiet. She kept listening even as she knocked on Galloway's door.

"Come in," came a tired voice from inside.

Stanton opened the door and walked inside, Lansford sneaking in before it shut completely. Stanton raised an eyebrow at Galloway's appearance.

He was exhausted, and was rubbing his head. His glasses were out on the table, and he was using a handkerchief to wipe his forehead. He had a plain, unadorned office room, with not much on the desk except for a computer, a telephone, a globe, a microscope, and a few other miscellaneous items, including pencil cups. He looked up and smiled tiredly as she sat down without being invited, and asked, "How have you been Toni since the last time we spoke?"

"Okay I guess," Stanton said, thinking back three years or so. "It could've been better, such as not being shot at, exiled, demoted, gone for an impromptu swim, um, I think that about sums up all the things that shouldn't have happened. How about you?" she asked, mentally noting Lansford's change in position so that he was now standing respectfully near the door. It looked like Galloway wanted to talk after all. "Shouldn't you be asleep now?" she asked.

"Too paranoid to sleep right now. Why were you shot at?" he asked, his eyes taking in the long, faded, thin scar running down the side of her face. "What happened to your face?" he asked somewhat bluntly.

"A pilot of mine wired my car to blow up in my face. Turns out he was double agent. As for the assassin, well, I was poking too close to Sector Seven's business in the aftermath of Mission City. They 'woke up' one of their sleeper agents so he could kill me for them, and it just so happened that the agent was one of my own, Navy Commander Cornelius Randall. That was an interesting turnout in the end," Stanton said, her tone flat and emotionless.

"Bummer, I thought he was a nice guy that one time we did meet about three or four years ago," Galloway said, and Stanton knew it was the mutual exhaustion that was making the exchange interesting in its own weird way. "Not much for me except the new post in President Obama's administration, and I learned the hard way that you have to pretty much be unafraid of heights to be in special operations in any branch of the military."

"Even if it was because of a fake engine problem, parachute drops aren't that terrifying. In fact, one of the pilots I used to work with _loves_ doing them. She would've been jealous," Stanton said, looking at her friend complacently. She was mindful however that this was the part of the conversation that was going to be risky.

"There is a reason I knew I wasn't going to join the Air Force or Army, and that is parachute drops," Galloway said with a slight irritation in his voice.

"I joined the Air Force because I didn't want to run the risk of having to swim in the ocean at any point in my career, yet I'm sure you heard I got dunked recently anyway," Stanton countered, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I did hear about that," Galloway said, smiling faintly. "You've always reminded me of cats, colonel. Ferocious and full of personality, yet hydrophobic all at the same time."

"I'll let you know when I'm offended," Stanton told him, a faint smile flickering around the edges of her mouth. "Galloway," she said, sobering then. "Release the two Air Force personnel; they are Thayer's responsibility, not yours. The Army participants also have their own general to answer to. You don't have the authority for this…"

"They were a part of NEST, under my command," Galloway interrupted, narrowing his eyes. "They disobeyed orders to disband."

"To _hell_ with your orders," Stanton hissed, her voice low now. Meeting at three in the morning wasn't one of Galloway's best ideas. "If you have such a problem with that, then take it up with the Secretary of Defense and the President. You would've lost your own life if the Autobots and NEST hadn't used their own judgment to do whatever it was they did."

"They disobeyed orders…" Galloway began.

"No. They obeyed you, 'disbanded' and then each individual made a conscious decision to place you in safety so that they could help out at Jordan since they _chose_ to go to Jordan," Stanton replied, sensing an opportunity. "It just so happened that each individual made the same exact decision. So forgive, forget, and _move on._"

Galloway sighed when she finished her brief tirade, and then seemed to work on focusing on her as though to resist the temptation to look elsewhere. "No," he said after a moment's hesitation. "What if it had been you in my place? Besides, the longer the Autobots are here on Earth, the longer the Decepticons stay, endangering everyone… including your children," he said, leaning forward on the desk.

"You leave them out of this," Stanton said coldly, narrowing her eyes slightly. So her attempt failed. Fine then, she wasn't going to answer his question about her being in charge just to spite him. "If it wasn't for this trivial act of disobedience, we would all be dealing with a literal Dark Ages here. Go back to the capital; they are trying to figure out their next move with so many Decepticons running around…"

"Optimus told me that there were only a few or so, not 'many'," Galloway interrupted.

"Well, you never know!" Stanton said, her voice rising slightly in frustration as she swept her arms out at the same time without even thinking about it. There was a clatter as the microscope and a pencil cup landed on the floor, having been swept off by the force of her hands.

"How many does Keller think there is?" Galloway asked as he and Stanton both bent down to pick up the fallen objects.

"If you had been at the meeting, you could've asked yourself. He said there were three accounted for, but wants to speak to Optimus anyway to get a headcount on the possible survivors," Stanton explained as she carefully placed the microscope onto the desk. She examined it and said, "Talk about a piece of tough equipment. Not a crack in sight."

"It's from my college days," Galloway explained dryly.

"All I have from my college days is an old sweatshirt that my oldest daughter uses when she's working," Stanton replied. "It's probably covered in paint by now."

Galloway laughed softly. "I suppose that Thayer and Keller would want me to release the Autobots as well, and calm down after all," he said exhaustedly, leaning back in his seat.

"Yeah. So, why don't you?" Stanton asked, suddenly aware that Lansford was no longer behind her or even in the room. She gave no indication to Galloway however that something was amiss.

"I wanted to talk to you right away," he said, leaning forward in his seat. "That's why I had you come here immediately instead of waiting until morning to talk."

"Okay," Stanton replied slowly, sensing that the subject had been abruptly changed. "Um, you talk about how threatening the Decepticons are, and I guess you saw the aftermath in Mission City and Shanghai, but have you ever actually seen one yourself?"

"No, but I've seen and heard enough," Galloway replied while taking his glasses off so he could rub his eyes. "Now, although his methods were somewhat… questionable, do you ever wonder if Ross Lynch was onto something when he said that the Autobots attract unwanted attention from Decepticons? If there are really so few of them here, then why haven't they've all been annihilated already?" he asked, once again focusing solely on her.

"Wouldn't Optimus know the answer to your second question, and, well, I don't know about Lynch, he was too much of a psycho for my taste so we didn't associate much," Stanton coolly replied, getting a suspicion as to what his next words were.

"What if everyone you held dear was threatened by the Decepticons, specifically by Megatron?" Galloway asked, careful not to rile her up further.

Stanton narrowed her eyes at him.

* * *

Lucas learned early on that Connelly could work magic.

At one point after entering the base, Gabriel and Max had consulted an aged copy of the facility blueprints, having claimed that they knew a friend who knew a friend who knew the descendant of one of the initial architects of the base. Lucas had been on the verge of calling Tobias again for directions, all the while knowing he would be ridiculed for doing so, when the crate's passenger had begun to have a claustrophobic attack. Rose had knelt to face the passenger, and then was able to divert the attack by talking and distracting the passenger. Then they learned that as long as Rose stayed within eyesight of the passenger, all future claustrophobic attacks were to be diverted.

"Wait here," Lucas told the others, and then descended down a long ramp into the detention center of the base. He had a flashlight out in one hand, using the lamp to guide his way yet keeping it handy in case he needed to use it as a weapon. The ramp itself was unusually long, but he tried to dismiss it as a part of his imagination. The longer he stayed at this base, he realized, the more creeps out he was getting.

Something wasn't right.

He froze when he got to the bottom and found two guards standing at the entrance, both bearing the distinctive NEST insignia. Lucas tensed, wanting to get by them but unwilling to cause bloodshed so early in the game. When they didn't react, he cautiously walked forward a few more feet.

Nothing.

Lucas jerked in surprise however when the two guards finally did move; he had assumed that there was the possibility of them being statues of some sort. He watched as they both fought back yawns and pretty much ignored him despite there were only five or so feet between them.

That was when it occurred to him that the officers were ignoring him on purpose; they knew why he was down here. As NEST officers, they would've disagreed with Galloway's jurisdictions but would have kept their complaints to themselves since a free man could do a little more than an imprisoned one.

Neither of them stopped Lucas from walking past the entrance.

Lucas actually didn't need to look for Tobias. It was past three in the morning and Tobias was bickering with the man in the cell across from him. The subject of the argument was over who had actually pressed in the command sequence to create the engine trouble in the C-17; both men wanted the credit, but only one of them had actually done it. "You know," Lucas said, interrupting Tobias, "You two are the only two who want credit for doing the act that got you into trouble."

"It was prompted after Galloway arrived back here to Diego Garcia," Tobias said, his voice coming from the darkened cell. "I think we'd all just had enough of him at that point."

"And he didn't even stay for more than twenty-four hours," Lucas said, looking for the simple lock pick he'd stowed away in a pocket from the C-17.

"I've got the keys," Tobias said, tossing a ring of keys out from his cell. "Apparently the guards were concerned about losing them."

"Sure you didn't pickpocket?" Lucas asked as he began unlocking the door.

"Yeah, we're sure," Tobias's companion, James Belroy, said from the other cell. "Going to let me out or not?"

"Yeah, just be patient," Lucas said in a pacifying manner. "We've got Autobots to spring still, so don't forget."

"I thought you didn't know about us," Tobias said, the lock clicking as it came undone.

"Tom told me to be careful with that sort of info, so I lied over the phone," Lucas explained as he turned around to unlock Belroy's door. "Where are Major Lennox and Epps? Or did they not get in trouble?"

"Actually, Epps was able to say that he had no idea what Lennox was doing, and Lennox explained that he was merely following protocol. _We_ said that we honestly thought there were engine problems, but at that point, our luck ran out," Tobias explained as Lucas undid the handcuffs on Belroy's wrists.

"But we sort of confessed right when Galloway started yelling at us. He was a wreck, covered in dirt and holding a pair of cracked glasses," Belroy added, rubbing his wrists where the cuffs had rubbed against the skin. "I think we got the twins going with our argument too, remember? Took Galloway an hour or so just to get their attention…"

"Twins?" Lucas repeated, looking up at Belroy.

"Belroy, he only knows that NEST works with the Autobots, he doesn't know their designations or anything," Tobias reminded his partner.

"_**Roxbury?**_" Kina's irritated voice came from his walkie-talkie. _**"If you're alive, contact please,**_" she added.

"That voice sounds oddly familiar," Tobias observed as Lucas took the radio and pressed the button to talk.

"Roxbury here, what's wrong? Is Dennison continuing with the Doomsday messages?" Lucas asked, gesturing for Belroy and Tobias to follow him back towards the exit. Lucas also noticed that the two guards from earlier were now gone.

"_**All the external cams here are on the blitz, and neither Madsen nor Whitmann can fix it. On top of that, we've just found that Galloway has a certain special guest right now, someone we all know and love."**_

"Let me guess; Mr. Keller or Mr. Thayer is here to knock some sense into him," Lucas guessed as he, Jackson, and Belroy joined the others waiting at the top.

"You again?" Tobias asked, drawing to a stop in front of Rose Connelly, who looked just as surprised to see him as he was to see her.

"Charmed," she said in a dry tone, raising an eyebrow at his bedraggled appearance.

"_**No, it's Stanton here to knock sense into him. Remember her?"**_Kina asked, and Lucas could almost see the grin on her face. While he was forever careful to stay on Stanton's good side the entire time he'd served, Kina more or less flipped between the general's good and bad side during her years of 401st service. The highlight of that time had been when Ari had gone a tad too far in one of her pranks, and Kina had found the courage to step up and challenge the general's authority in order to prevent Aliskevicz from being discharged completely. Whether the general had some new respect for Kina or not after that had been one of the central points on Lucas's thoughts for the next few years.

"Leave Stanton alone, she has her reasons for being here, and it'll only rile her up now if we do something drastic," Lucas said as both Tobias and Belroy began to lead the group to their final destination, wherever the Autobots were being held.

"_**Right. We'll be so quiet that even you will forget we're here,"**_ Kina replied in a slightly sarcastic tone. Then there was a click, signaling that she'd signed off altogether.

"How much longer?" Max suddenly asked. "This crate doesn't get any lighter you know."

"Soon," Tobias assured them as they rounded the corner, and Lucas wasn't sure what to think when he saw no guards standing outside the door to apparently what was another hangar. "Come on, we're almost there!" Tobias said, sensing the group's hesitation. "I solemnly promise that there aren't any surprises on the other side of the door," he added before sliding the lock open and walking into the darkened room. There was a _click_ as he flipped the light switch.

He was right. There was nothing surprising at all at the sight of eleven vehicles all lined up on one side of the wall. Rose made a small noise when she saw the thick chains that had been used to create a sort of impromptu barrier while doing a pitiful job of immobilizing the vehicles. The Autobots seemed sort of small in that instant, small vehicles rattling around in a large, empty gray hangar.

"Don't worry, America doesn't treat her heroes like this, it just so happens that Galloway has this persistent belief in the exceptions. That belief's always driven even his bosses crazy," Tobias said, walking up to the giant yet silent Peterbilt semi. "We humans always believe that there are exceptions to every rule." He knelt down and began to examine the chains.

"Is it just me, or is he talking to the truck?" Max whispered to Gabriel as they set the crate down off the SmartCart.

"Nope, he's talking to the truck. I see him doing it too," Gabriel muttered back as Rose stepped forward.

She silently walked over to silent yellow Hummer and knelt down as well, examining a padlock while speaking softly, too quietly for Lucas to hear. Finally she stood up and turned to face Lucas. "There has to be some way to do this without the key!" she said, pain slightly laced in her voice. She looked desperately at Tobias. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you have to have some kind of plan!" she said.

"He doesn't, but I do," Lucas said, pulling out the anti-riot rifle from its hiding place. Rose narrowed her eyes but backed away slightly. Instead of opening fire on the chain links like she assumed, Lucas turned to Gabriel and Max, who both backed away once the weapon was pointed in their direction. "Gentlemen, _when I say so_, you will open the crate," he said as he fished the keys to the Jeep from his pocket. "All right, open it," he said, tossing the keys to Belroy, who caught them while wearing a frown. "Now Belroy, just jangle the keys in front of the crate," Lucas said as Max carefully undid the clasp and chain that had held the carrier door in place.

Twitch, ruffled, irritated, still nauseated from the flight yet very much alive, crawled out of the crate and unfolded himself from the pretzel-like position he'd been in for several hours now. He straightened his T-shirt while looking resentfully at Lucas, who was careful to keep the weapon out of sight the entire time. "Whaddya want with me now?" Twitch finally asked crossly.

"To make amends for the past ills," Lucas explained. "All you got to do is undo the chains, and you're good to go." He kept the rifle handy; all he would use it for was to slow Twitch down so recapturing him would be easier. Twitch on the other hand glared suspiciously at Lucas; that is until the nearest vehicle caught his attention.

"A GMC Topkick!" he squealed, reminding Lucas of a child on Christmas morning. Twitch ran over and began running his hands over the truck's frame in an adoring fashion. "It's so, so, _beautiful,_" Twitch breathed, seemingly unaware of the grimaces from Belroy, Tobias and Rose. "Eek!" Twitch squealed again, climbing over the truck over to the next vehicle in line. "A silver Chevy… and it's all mine," Twitch said with glee as he examined the silver hood. Lucas watched with slight amusement as the three motorcycles snagged Twitch's attention. He turned away however when Tobias walked over to him.

"You might want to call him off real soon; Ironhide's patience with human idiocy can only last so long," Tobias warned as Twitch clambered over the motorcycles to fawn over the Hummer. "We'll be looking at a pile of smoking ash if he isn't called off."

"Twitch is sort of a necessary evil. Besides, I thought Autobots didn't target humans," Lucas asked, turning to face Tobias.

"Back in '08, we kinda cleared the mission-hindering humans and the troublemakers and made them open for target practice. Then again, when Aliskevicz came here, we had to take troublemakers off the list; she wouldn't have made it through the first week if we didn't," Tobias explained, looking back at Lucas. "We were getting trouble all over the American southwest when we were hunting Barricade, that's what prompted the change in rules. "When Galloway came, then we knew that mission-hindering humans had to be taken off the list too," he added as an afterthought. "Besides, would you like to be an Autobot and have some random stranger run their hands all over you?"

"No thanks," Lucas said as he watched Twitch begin working furiously at the padlock on the chains; thankfully he hadn't needed prompting to do the task that Lucas had had in mind for him. The chains themselves, although somewhat ineffective in the end, were crossed across the vehicle hoods and around the motorcycle tires. They all connected back to the wall, threatening to bring the walls down should the Autobots attempt to break free. "I have a question," he said to Tobias, who nodded in acknowledgement. "If you were chasing a Decepticon, would you worry about the guy who 'died' trying to steal the Decepticon or go after the Decepticon itself?"

"I'd shoot the guy first to make sure he really was dead and _then_ go after the Decepticon," Tobias replied without hesitation. He looked up when there was a loud clatter, and then asked, "Jeez, how the hell did he get through that lock that fast?"

"Give him good enough incentive, aka the cars, and he's putty in your hands. Now we can honestly say we didn't free the Autobots, merely provided transport for their escape," Lucas said as Twitch completed more of the work for them by eagerly yanking the chains off of the vehicles. They watched as Twitch reached Ironhide and pulled off the last of the chains.

In that moment, the Autobots seemed to come to life, as though they'd been patiently waiting for Twitch to finish his work. Ironhide was the first to transform, his black armor plating folding back and providing ample room to finish the transformation process. Lucas stepped back as a single large cannon formed from the Autobot's hand.

"_MOTHER!_" Twitch squealed in terror the second he realized what had just happened, and then there was a multi-colored blur as he ran as fast as possible back to his crate. There was a clang as he slammed the door shut and locked himself in. Gabriel and Max stepped back several paces as Rose, unafraid of the Autobots, approached Ironhide.

"Ironhide, what is it?" she asked quietly, and then Lucas could see that there was a measure of agitation in the black Transformer's posture. Rose seemed to have sensed it too, and cautiously approached Ironhide. "What's going on?" she demanded, but Ironhide didn't answer, only continued to scan as the other Autobots began to transform. Only three, the Camaro and the two smaller Chevrolets were still in vehicular mode, one waiting patiently for the leader while the other two seemed to be engaged in an activity that looked similar to bumper cars. Max and Gabriel both managed (albeit barely) to pull Twitch's crate out of the way just as the two cars collided near the humans. Lucas stayed close to Tobias the entire time; Tobias, Belroy, and Rose were the only three people who weren't fazed by the sudden activity.

Still aware of Ironhide's agitation, Rose turned to look at the red-and-blue mech who had transformed from the semi, and then asked, "Optimus, what is it?"

"They're here," Ironhide said in an ominous tone as Optimus joined him. Rose and Tobias were the only two who looked worried at the warning, while Lucas could only wonder what the hell was going on now.

--------------

A/N: I love finding websites with the phobias listed. There are these long lists with two columns, one being the phobia name and the other being the explanation. I enjoyed the site more when there was a phobia for 'fear of phobias'. Anyway, the character of Kina Skye belongs to Nanoe, and is used with permission. The character of Rose Connelly belongs to BlackwingRose and is used with full permission. Both characters require the permission of their owners to be used elsewhere.


	11. Breached Sanctuary

Eleven

Breached Sanctuary

The steady humming of monitors was the only sound in the control room as Kina leaned back in the padded rolling chair. Everyone else was quiet because both Maggie and Glen were too absorbed in the task Kina had set them to, Riley was fiddling with the external cams, which were still not working properly, and Mark was standing silently over the three security guards they'd jumped upon their arrival. Lucas was also being unusually quiet over the radio, and Kina was contemplating on contacting him again. In the meantime, she settled for watching Stanton and Galloway alternate between bargaining and catching up together. In the back of her mind, she was also reviewing everything that had happened since they'd arrived. Something wasn't sitting right with her.

"Hey Riley," she said, swiveling in the chair to face him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure, what?" he asked, two live wires in his hands as he tried to start a connection. "Whoever went at these did a good job," he grumbled as he pulled another handful of torn wires out from underneath the panel.

"You said that there were Blackbirds here. How did you even know what they were?" Kina asked, leaning forward a bit.

Riley stilled for a moment. "If you forgot already, Ari has this talent of acquiring passwords into illegal networks," he said, voice muffled by the panels. "She'll fork them over for the right prices."

"I actually didn't know that," Kina replied, leaning down so she could see Riley's form. "When did that start?"

"I dunno, one day she didn't have them, the next she did. Anyway a few of us, uh, went into the Pentagon network and found a file on them by accident," Riley said, his face briefly illuminating in blue light as he zapped two wires together. "Any effect on the cams?" he asked.

"Nope, keep trying," Maggie replied as Kina straightened and refocused on the camera that was orientated on Stanton and Galloway. The question of the Blackbirds was bugging her now. She frowned as she tried to recall some piece of information that Keller, Thayer, or someone important had told her a few months ago. Now it was really beginning to bother her…

"Engaging argument?" Mark asked his sarcasm still evident in his voice as he watched Kina's eyes stray back to the screen with Stanton and Galloway. He personally had never met the infamous Stanton, just heard somewhat unpleasant rumors about her that were circulating for months first in 2005 and then again in 2007.

"Not really, they're not arguing all the time. Just working it into their conversation," Kina replied, looking over at Mark. She studied his sour expression and asked, "Want to warn us all again of impending arrest or something like that?"

"Yes, but I wouldn't dare since the 'turbulence' we encountered coming in convinced me not to do so," Mark said, pointedly staring at her so that she knew he still blamed her for purposely jerking the plane and then blaming turbulence.

"I told Lucas I wouldn't start anything for the duration of the trip," Kina assured him, but he still shook his head.

"We _both_ know that you will be ready to pounce on me for every little disrespectful statement on this trip the second it's over," Mark hissed crossly. He looked down at one of the three security guards and said, "You have to deal with Galloway, and I have to deal with her. Wanna switch commanding officers?"

"Nah, I'm good," one of the security guards replied. "Things have been a little crazy here since Galloway returned, but that doesn't mean that I want to switch officers."

"Just because I said I wasn't going to start something now doesn't mean that I'm not going to remember it for when I _can_ do something about it," Kina warned.

"I just thought of something," Glen said suddenly, swiveling in his chair to face her. "I thought someone said that Roxbury didn't know about the Autobots, but he seems comfortable enough…"

"He lied to Tobias. He knew about them all along but just told Tobias that he didn't," Kina replied, and then she turned to face Riley's feet again. "Mackerson, it's just a couple of wires. What is the delay?" she asked.

"Everything is fixed now, something else is screwing up the cams," Riley snapped back, and Mark flinched. There was a scuffling sound as Riley pulled himself up and out from underneath the panels. He leaned over the monitors and began pressing commands in, but the monitors remained static. "How is it that the external cams are damaged but the internal ones are working fine…?"

_Fzzt!_

"I take that back," Riley said, sounding slightly stunned as he stared at the now static-filled screens. He peered at the three guards and said, "Any of you guys know what's up?"

"Technically the cams have been wired so that extra-terrestrials can't wreck them, trust me it wasn't easy to make it work that way," one of the guards offered, and Mark bent down to pull the man up to his feet so that he could work at the problem.

Kina on the other hand glanced at Whitmann to make sure he was still working on his assignment, which he was. The thing about the Blackbirds was bothering her now. It was a recent piece of information she'd gotten too because she distinctly remembered Chief Thayer talking to their guide about them. It was a couple of months ago, and Thayer had been invited to Edwards, California for a meeting or something like that. Since he hadn't wanted to go alone, he brought her along for the trip, which turned out to include a VIP tour of the NASA research center. It was fine at first, but then the man assisting their guide had started to become annoying. She'd been trying to get him to shut up when the guide was talking to Thayer about the Blackbirds, and at the time she'd assumed she hadn't missed anything important. Now she wasn't so sure.

"Everything has to be calibrated just right," the security officer explained as he adjusted the systems using a computer program, which appeared to be easier and safer than working with live wires. "Then you press this key…"

"Mark," Kina asked, turning to face him. He narrowed his eyes but nodded in acknowledgement. "Were you with me the one time I went with Thayer to the NASA research center in California?"

"No. If I had been with you for that long, I believe that I would have slipped into insanity long before now," Mark replied stiffly, evidently intent on making every conversation of theirs an argument. "It's a freaking miracle that I made it this far…"

"You can shut up now," Kina interrupted, briefly wishing that they were back on the C-17 so that she could knock some sense into him. It worked well last time. He was right. She couldn't wait for the trip to be over so she could knock him down a few pegs.

"I have a little knowledge on Blackbirds," the security officer offered. When she looked up at him, he said, "I do know that there are only two in existence, and that they're both in the NASA research center in California. We don't have any that's for sure."

Riley froze at the same time Kina reached the same conclusion. "Please tell me I just misheard you and that you really do have a Blackbird in your arsenal," he said, looking uneasily at the security officer.

"No, we don't," the officer repeated, looking back at Riley. "Where'd did you get that from?" he asked as he let Maggie fix one of the system connections.

Riley distinctly looked like he was about to be sick. "So, you're trying to tell me that there are no Blackbirds when I swear I saw three on the landing pad outside," he asked, trying to take this in calmly.

"Yeah…" the officer began as Kina sat up straight in her chair and began to reach for the walkie-talkie.

"I'm going to call Lucas and tell him to expect trouble," she said, but as she was about to press the button to establish a link, there was a faint _crash,_ the noise reverberating through the steel walls. Everyone in the security room froze until the noise had subsided, and then Mark peered at Kina.

"I think that he's just figured it out," he said, and Kina _almost_ lashed out at him for the obvious statement.

"Let's go. He'll probably need help," Kina growled, gesturing for Mark to follow her. "Mackerson, stay with the analysts." She ignored Riley's exclamation of indignation, and then left the security room altogether.

-------------

Stanton broke off the conversation at the loud _crash_ that echoed through the walls. Both she and Galloway immediately stood up a few seconds later, listening carefully. Finally she looked at him and asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know, but I bet I know who was involved," Galloway said, forcing himself to relax back in the chair. There was a moment of an awkward silence between them and then he asked, "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, but I think it's going to be painful for both of us when we do find out," Stanton said. She raised an eyebrow and asked, "How does this sound? You resign, I'll take over your position and make sure that they stay deactivated or whatever the president wanted. Then you can leave and return to your duties as National Security Advisor while I'm stuck on some isolated base doing nothing…"

"Nice try. I wasn't born yesterday Toni. We both know you'd wait until the helicopter was barely out of sight before you got things running again. Who knows? You might even try to pull the 401st back together."

"You're safe about the 401st; only a general has the power to challenge an order from the Secretary of Defense. After being demoted, I no longer have such authority," Stanton coolly replied as she stood up. "Now, I don't know if you haven't noticed, but my, uh, _aide_ wandered off again." She brushed off her uniform, still feeling grubby from the flight over, and then said, "We can talk some more in the morning all right?"

"I would feel better if we finished our conversation now," Galloway said, looking up at her. His eyes seemed to be trying to communicate something important to her, and he was starting to look desperate.

Stanton narrowed her eyes at him. "Galloway, we'll finish our conversation later. Now, I have to find Lansford," she told him, and then turned on her heel to leave.

"I thought you hated him," Galloway said suddenly, getting up from behind his desk and walking around to join her. "Or at least that's what you told me…"

"He's a pain, but I've learned to deal with it," Stanton replied as Galloway closed his office door and locked it. "That determined to finish catching up?" she asked as they walked away from office. The fire alarms hadn't gone off yet, so Stanton was making the risky assumption that nothing had been blown to bits yet.

"I guess you could say that," Galloway said, directing her towards a door at the end of the hall that would eventually lead to the outside. "Toni, I have to be honest with you about something…" he said casually, turning around to face her and put his hands up in a surrender position if necessary. The answer to the question was pivotal in whether he told her his admission or not…

She was fast; he had to give her that. The pistol was out in front of his face when he was done turning around. "What did you do now?" she hissed, and he could see her anger and hurt written plainly on her face. "What did you lie about? Spit it out before I help you," she snapped, her eyes flickering to something that was past his shoulder.

"It's not about you, it's about this facility," Galloway said quickly, but shut up when he saw her pull the hammer back. "Toni, I know this is a little ridiculous, but the Deceptic…" he began.

_Pchow!_

It took Galloway a few microseconds to realize that he was still standing, alive and in one piece. His heart was beating quickly as Stanton lowered the gun and focused on something beyond him. He turned around slowly and stiffly to find a little toy truck limping away, one of its back tires shot through. Another click encouraged it to move faster, and Galloway could only imagine the Banes girl's wrath when she found that he allowed the little guy to get hurt… even though he'd promised that nothing was going to happen. "What was _that_ all about?" he demanded as Stanton lowered the pistol but kept it out anyway. He didn't blame her for pulling it out in the first place; if he were being questioned about a previous assassination attempt, he would've assumed that the questioner was about to attempt the same.

"It was getting on my nerves," Stanton replied coolly. "Now turn around, and walk to the hangars where the Autobots are. You can explain yourself there to them."

"Let me explain as I walk then," Galloway said, calmly obeying her order. He began walking, and he could sense her keeping an eye on his hands. "After I was rescued, I was taken to a US base in the Middle East for recovery. I accidentally found out that Starscream had taken refuge there as well, and he acted first by stopping me from escaping," Galloway explained as he slowly opened the door.

"Ah, he's still around? I thought he left years ago," Stanton commented sarcastically from behind him, quietly slipping the gun back into its holster without saying anything about it to Galloway. Maybe when he got off her nerves she would say something about it.

"He threatened to kill some military personnel if I didn't comply with his master's orders," Galloway explained, praying that Stanton would see reason in a few moments. "He and his cohort were dangling me some several hundred feet in the air, and were making a list of demands…"

"Captain Preston found herself in a similar predicament two years ago only the president's safety was the thing compromised," Stanton interrupted, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Yet you see her walking around alive and intact. I didn't think she bowed to Starscream's demands very much."

"Captain Preston was the one of the three people he was threatening to kill," Galloway said, frowning even though Stanton couldn't see it. "His master apparently wanted unrestricted access to Diego Garcia. Starscream and his buddy treated me like a rag doll until I complied with them…"

"You threw the Autobots up for grabs to save your own hide?" Stanton snapped, her sharp voice cracking like a whip and startling him badly for the second time that night… or morning at the rate they were going. "Starscream must have rattled you so badly if you're not thinking straight! Didn't you know that you could've easily radioed someone in the US for help afterwards?"

"Not all of us spend our time trying to figure out ways to outwit the higher power," Galloway snapped. "Also, if you plan on shooting something soon…"

_Crash!_

This time, instead of just noise, the whole hall shook violently. Galloway and Stanton braced themselves against the wall until the shaking had stopped. "Let's go," Stanton growled before breaking out into a run, Galloway behind her. "Does these sorts of thing always happen?" she asked as they rounded a corner. Emergency alarms blared in their wake, flashing red lights throughout the darkened halls.

"No, and listen! If you need to shoot something soon, do not do it over my shoulder again! I don't trust you _that _much!" Galloway said crossly as he ran a little faster just to keep pace. He wondered if he'd gained weight over the years he'd spent behind a desk; he was certainly feeling like it. Stanton on the other hand seemed like she was used to running around at a moment's notice. He had to figure out her secret.

"Nobody trusts me that much anyway," she said nonchalantly as she slowed slightly to let him catch up. "Hell, I'm just grateful that Keller didn't kick me out of the army completely," she added. She spared him a glance and she said, "For the record, I do _not_ spend my time trying to outwit the higher power. I usually have more constructive things to do than that."

"Name five," Galloway shot back. This was not the time or place for an argument, and he knew that, but he had to finish what he started. "Five things that are considered acceptable and rational in the US military," he added for clarification.

"One, I keep in touch with old subordinates. Two, I work with Lansford on maintaining communication with the Pentagon. Three, I keep the Air Force at the base in line. Four, I help Admiral Benson stay organize, and then finally, I give help when it comes to dating. Benson is hopeless otherwise," Stanton said, slipping a little when the building rocked again. "Are they trying to bring the place down or something?"

"I do not know, Toni, I do not know," Galloway replied, running faster.

----------------

As a paramedic, Rose Connelly knew how important each second was. Each second lost meant that it was going to be harder to bring a victim back from the brink of death. Speed was always of the essence.

But when Ironhide finally lashed out at the unseen threat, time seemed to slow down. Rose vaguely remembered swiftly retreating as a large crack appeared in the hangar doors and ceiling, only to be broken completely in the next barrage. Light flooded the decks outside as the emergency floodlights switched on, revealing a black aircraft halfway through its own transformation process. Ironhide, in full rampage, charged the aircraft with blazing weapons, Optimus right behind him. The aircraft however managed to transform in time to meet the assault.

Breathing hard and behind a crate, Rose glanced over at Tobias to see that he was firing on the silver Decepticon, Belroy at Tobias's back. Lucas, Gabriel, and Max had taken cover behind a series of crates, and Twitch or his crate was nowhere in sight. Lucas cast a look over at her, made eye contact, and then passed a pistol along the ground towards her. She snatched up the weapon, and checked to ensure the chamber was prepared. She looked up at Lucas, who had an alarmed expression.

"Watch your six, Connelly!" he shouted, gesturing frantically behind her.

Alarmed, she twisted around in time to see the grate that led to the air vents pop open, and a spider-like robot crawled out. It had miniature claws, spider-like legs, a nasty pair of prongs, and it looked _mad_ especially with its magnified eyes. Rose scrambled backwards until she hit a wall, whereupon she pulled up the small pistol and aimed it dead center at the creature.

It didn't even see her. Seeing a more appetizing target in the Autobots, it scuttled off and climbed over the crates, calculating. Rose crawled to the crates to keep an eye on the apparent troublemaker as it made its way to the combating Transformers. Privately, she hated hiding like this when there was a battle to be fought and won, but at the moment, it was the best she could do until a better opportunity surfaced.

A flash of silver caught her eye. She turned in the direction of the color, and recognized the silver jet that was coming down from the dawn-colored sky. "Ratchet!" she screamed, leaping to her feet. She couldn't stop the Decepticon, but at least she could alert Ratchet to the threat behind him…

The medic, hearing her cry, turned instinctively in time to deflect Starscream's attack. Almost immediately after turning around at her cry, Ratchet jerked as though something had pricked him hard, distracting him from the oncoming Decepticon.

It was the spider-like Decepticon scuttling around Ratchet, Sideswipe and Jolt, nicking at them when it could. For a little troublemaker, it was being unusually daring. Rose glanced over to see that Max and Gabriel had fanned out, with Lucas still behind cover and Tobias gone. Black uniformed NEST officers had appeared at some point and were firing at Starscream, who was backpedaling from Jolt and into Sideswipe, seemingly rethinking his strategy at the same time. Arcee and her sisters had taken upon themselves to aid Prime and Ironhide with the black aircraft

She made up her mind. Praying that this wasn't the stupidest thing she'd ever done, Rose headed straight into the fray. If it was any comfort, she could see that NEST soldiers had also snuck up to join in, but on the other hand, they were trained professionals. Rushing into hazardous situations was part of the job description.

"_Connelly! ARE YOU CRAZY?" _she vaguely heard Tobias screech from somewhere. Yes, it had been a split-second decision, but she wasn't going to sit on the sidelines for this one. Since Tobias was never her boss in the first place, she had no real inclination or incentive to obey him. Besides, her first impression of him hadn't been favorable, and that factored in when it came to working with him.

Rose moved just as Sideswipe charged for Starscream, missing as the Decepticon took for the skies again. There was a loud rumble as Sideswipe willingly took the plunge into the ocean waters, soaking everyone on the decks. Rose aimed and fired, taking advantage of the fact that the little Decepticon had become momentarily distracted. She didn't see whether it got damaged or not because she looked up as Starscream took aim at the small collection of humans before him, planning to permanently remove them. She instinctively froze when she looked up at the gaping cannons that Starscream had locked onto her and the three NEST soldiers a little way behind her.

It was the twins who more or less evened the playing field.

Either Mudflap or Skids, each would blame the other later so no one would really know, had criticized the paint color of the other twin and started an argument over whose paint was better looking in the faint light of the early morning sun. While their comrades were fighting the real threat, they were fighting each other. Eventually it became a brawl that rolled out onto the real battleground, and Starscream, distracted with the humans and Autobots he was about to vaporize as vengeance for the humiliating loss at Jordan, didn't see the brawling twins. The final _crash_ announced Starscream's and the twins' 'impromptu swim'.

The decks immediately grew eerily quiet after the Decepticon had vanished. Optimus was also no longer in sight as well as his opponent. Feeling drained, Rose sank to her knees as her weapon clattered to the ground, temporarily forgotten. She felt someone support her up from behind, holding her gently around the ribs to prevent her from falling over completely.

"Please someone tell me that the twins did not just end this," she heard Tobias say as he walked closer.

"The twins _did_ just end this," someone said, earning a few snickers from his companions. Rose looked up to see that a few NEST soldiers were gathering by the edge of the ruined deck to peer down into the waters, hoping to catch a glimpse of the verdict of the battle under the waves. "Looks like they're not completely useless after all Ratchet."

"There is no need to remind me," a male voice behind Rose replied in a stiff manner.

Tobias came into her field of vision, and then he asked somewhat bluntly, "Out of curiosity Connelly, what the hell was going through your mind when you charged like that?"

"Knock it off Jackson," Belroy said, walking up behind his copilot. "Just because…"

"Galloway isn't going to be thrilled about this, but at this point, I could care less," Graham said, rubbing a dry shirt through his wet hair. "If he wants to make a fuss out of it, he can go help finish the battle underwater, and then complain. _Then_ I'll listen to him."

"I will _not_ go underwater even if that is what it will take to get you to listen," Galloway snapped, storming through the hangar doors. He scanned the scene before him. Ratchet was in lock-down, seeing that his hologram was sitting next to an unfamiliar woman and was supporting her. Jolt was helping Sideswipe up from the oceanic waters. Bumblebee was pulling two NEST soldiers from the water, although how they got there in the first place was beyond Galloway. Assorted men and women were standing there, some in NEST black, others in an unidentifiable gray. He felt like the parent who stumbled upon their teenage children having a forbidden party, the awkward moment where everyone turned to stare at the intruder.

"How could we miss it completely?" Stanton asked, breaking the silence as she walked around him. "I don't think you run fast enough to qualify for serving in the military," she said, glancing back at him as she strode forward into the disaster zone.

"Good thing that I'm not signing up!" Galloway shot after her, and then scanned the room for the highest-ranking officer. He had been too riled up after Jordan to remember where exactly he'd sent Major Lennox. Lennox was still in NEST, but just not on Diego Garcia at the moment. "Where's the leader, Prime?" he asked, looking around and finally realizing that the Autobot leader was nowhere in sight.

_Poomf!_

Everyone looked up to see a silver F-22 Raptor take to the skies, sheets of water cascading off the wings and creating a sort of glittering waterfall as the sun reflected off of the liquid. The Raptor took care to fly over the exposed humans on the decks, soaking them through. There was a second roar, and a black aircraft pierced through the water's surface and into the skies, moving significantly faster than the Raptor. Again the humans were splattered with water falling off of the aircraft.

"That must be some weird form of Decepticon humor," Graham muttered darkly as he took Belroy's cotton jacket in an attempt to dry his head off. When Belroy made a sound of irritation, Graham tossed him the soaked T-shirt from the first drying. "Get the point across the best way you can without actually killing humans."

"How rude, Starscream didn't even bother to say hello," Stanton said, brushing her damp hair aside. "He must've been too comfortable here and didn't want to go," she added as another wave washed upon the deck, Ironhide and Optimus both climbing out onto the deck. Water cascaded down both Autobots as they stretched to their full heights and Ironhide flexed his joints to ensure that all of the water was completely out. Rose was among the six people total who weren't soaked a third time; Ratchet had helped her to the side already and she was wrapped in one of the towels that someone had thought to fetch after the first soaking.

"I don't know why I bother," Graham finally said, tossing the soaked jacket over to Belroy, who scowled at the loss of a makeshift towel. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm wide awake now," he added as he approached Ironhide. Lucas was already standing near the weapons specialist; after the first round, he'd assumed it was safe to come out. Now he ducked his head away from Stanton's field of vision, the action going unnoticed by all except Tobias, who decided not to call him out on it.

Several rifles were raised as the hangar doors slammed open, and Stanton was mildly surprised to see her former pilot Kina Skye walk in with two soldiers behind her, one in NEST uniform the other in the gray that seemed to have appeared at some point.

"I can see it still took forever to get here even _with_ a guide," Kina observed, eyeing the soaked personnel and taking in the few Autobots standing there. "But I suppose it's a good thing we were late."

"That's 'cause you didn't hire a professional," Tobias said, smirking. Behind him, the personnel were slowly dispersing while Ironhide went back to the edge of the deck to peer into the waters below.

"Tobias, we've only met five times before, and I've always wondered if you deliberately pick fights," Kina said in such a serious tone that Tobias thought it better to back off. Stanton looked back at the waters when there was another round of vicious swearing from the personnel, announcing the arrival of the twins from the waters below.

"Speaking of disagreements, Galloway, wasn't there something you were going to tell Prime?" Stanton asked in such a courteous tone that Galloway wondered if she took personal delight in tormenting people sometimes.

Galloway scowled at her as Optimus turned his attention to Galloway. Sensing an oncoming altercation, some personnel focused on getting dry instead of hanging around. The only nine who remained were Max, Gabriel, Lucas, Tobias, Rose, Belroy, and Kina with the two people with her. Gritting his teeth, Galloway turned back to face Optimus and said, "I am… _sorry_ for, um, overreacting after Jordan. You were right I was wrong. I guess I'll go back to the United States and sort things out there…"

"I can only hope that this can serve as a reminder to your president that the Decepticons will not go easily," Optimus rumbled, and Stanton couldn't decide if she detected a hidden warning in his tone or not. She was exhausted.

"Either way, this place is now compromised… trip to the US anyone?" Tobias asked hopefully, and Stanton wondered how long it had been since he went home.

"I would say not by flight, but I have a 'suspicion' as you humans put it, that we will be going back that way," Ironhide grumbled as he kept the twins off to the side so that they could shake the water out without soaking any more humans.

"You'll have a better chance going in via ship; Keller just called," Lansford said, walking around the corner from the outside. He was holding a towel-wrapped bundle in a similar fashion one would hold a cat. "Wanted to say that he was aware of a C-17 sneaking out with a commanding officer who scared everybody by dropping off the map last night," he said, nodding respectfully to Optimus. "Also, he and Johnson, the current SecDef, want you back stateside, colonel. Something is making them jumpy in DC, and they think that you might've had a hand in it."

"I can swear upon my honor that I actually had nothing to do with whatever is going on in DC," Stanton replied sweetly. Lansford rolled his eyes at her expression but spoke again.

"Finally, this little guy is pissed off at you because you shot his wheel off," Lansford said, pulling back the towel to reveal a disgruntled little Decepticon. "He was that toy truck that we saw coming in," Lansford explained, angling the Decepticon so it and Stanton could see each other. "Claims he's defected to the Autobot side. Name's Wheelie."

Stanton leaned in slightly so that she and the Decepticon were almost touching. "If you're expecting an apology from me, I wouldn't count on it. You were getting on my nerves," she said after a few moments of expectant silence.

"I can see how that would've happened," Kina observed from her safe distance away from Stanton and the Decepticon.

"His name is Wheelie or something like that, and Miss Banes is going to kill me since I, ah, let him get injured," Galloway said, looking over Stanton's shoulder at the Decepticon. He sighed, and then said, "Captain Belroy." The man trotted obediently over, and Galloway said, "Find the Navy crews and see if they can get a top-class ship going for America by noon _at the very latest._"

"Sir!" Belroy replied, happy to be back on Galloway's good side again. He gestured for Tobias to follow, and the two men walked out of the hangar with Gabriel and Max close behind.

"Where is Twitch?" Lucas asked, momentarily forgetting that Stanton was still standing there. He grimaced as the colonel focused on him, and she smiled.

"I trust you have been well, Roxbury?" she asked politely, placing a hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow at her former captain.

"Never better," he replied, forcing his face to put on less of a grimace and more of a genuine smile. He looked at Lansford and asked, "Did Keller specify who was the missing CO? I'm pretty sure that I didn't have one on my team."

"How sure?" Kina asked curiously as behind her, Mark grimaced when he saw Stanton watching him.

"Sure-sure. I had asked Sergeant Wilson to check the profiles of all attendees so that I wouldn't pick a CO up by accident. We would definitely get into some kind of trouble by now if we did," Lucas said, reassuring her. He turned to see that Rose was standing up and beginning to leave the hangar as well. "Miss Connelly, if you require assistance…"

"No thank you, I'm fine," she replied as Ratchet's hologram vanished into thin air and the Autobot medic resumed mobility.

"Well, now that _that_ is all sorted out, I say we get dry, and then prep for departure. I'm sleeping on the way home," Stanton said, Galloway nodding nervously as Optimus turned to check on his companions.

"Now who started this fight?" Ironhide demanded as he forcibly dragged the twins back to the hangar.

"Uh, I dunno… he did!" Skids said, immediately blaming his brother when thinking of the possible consequences.

"Did not! It wuz youh fault!" Mudflap shot back, taking a swing at his brother. In doing so, a bucket's worth of trapped ocean water was finally released and drenched the few humans left.

There were a few moments of silence from the humans as the twins began yet another argument. Then they left before any more water came down on them. It felt like being under a waterfall at some points.

----------------

A/N: I did'nt know how to type out the twins' dialogue, so I gave it a shot. It should improve with future chapters.


	12. In Rank Strife

Twelve

In-Rank Strife

It was mid-morning in Washington DC. The news concerning Diego Garcia had yet to reach Thayer or the Secretary of Defense so for now, all was at peace. Or at least in the city itself, everything was at peace.

The airfield however was another story altogether.

As he stood on the balcony overlooking the airfield, Major Cromwell was pondering on the in-flight exercise that had just finished. He supposed it had gone okay, but seeing that two pilots brushed death a few moments ago, well, it could've gone better after all. It couldn't have been Starscream causing trouble; the Decepticon had left last night to wherever his mysterious errand took him. Cromwell was somewhat uneasy with the knowledge that Starscream was gone because it meant that anything could go wrong now.

Meanwhile, in the hangars, the atmosphere was growing stormier by the second despite the sun shining in the sky. Trying to keep in mind the delicate nature of the flight equipment, Alexis angrily yanked her helmet off and then climbed out onto the F-22 wing, not bothering to use the ladder that the crews had pushed over. She glared resentfully at Tyrone, who was climbing out of his F-22. "What the hell was that about?" she demanded angrily as he pulled his helmet off.

"I did _exactly _as you ordered. Slight alteration to left to intercept," he snapped back. "Obviously you didn't realize that Lucky was in the middle of an evasive maneuver."

"I didn't tell you to do that!" Alexis countered as a med team came out into the hangar to help Lucky out of his jet. "Who said I told you to do that?" she demanded as Tyrone hopped from his jet to her neighbor's as he walked over to her. She tried not to think of what had happened after she'd delivered disputed order during the exercise; Tyrone had gone left just as Lucky, apparently on his own initiative, had pulled out of an evasive maneuver and ended up directly underneath Tyrone. The glass of the cockpit hatch had been horribly damaged seeing that Lucky had been coming up fast, unaware of Tyrone above him. Lucky had received the brunt of the damage, and was now being taken away to get his hands and arms looked at.

She backed away slightly as he got onto her jet to continue the discussion albeit in lower voices. "I specifically heard you say, _captain_, to go left," he said.

"I said _right_," Alexis corrected, running through her memory and distinctly remembering saying right.

"I'm pretty sure I heard _left,_" Tyrone snapped as the hangar door opened and Ari wandered in while eating a red popsicle.

"I heard 'right'. I was listening in on the communications," Ari interrupted. "Stryker showed me the whole set-up before he went God-knows-where the other day. I told him that I was feeling left out because you have a whole other squadron to work with, and I'm not working with you anymore and I wanted to be a part of it," she added, coming to a stop in front of the wing so she could look up at them. Alexis noted with a touch of envy that her friend was in comfortable civilian clothing, while Alexis still had to take a shower and then get back into a uniform.

"Thank you, Ari. Looks like _someone_ believes me," Alexis told Tyrone before sitting down on the wing edge so she could jump down.

"I thought it was generally agreed around here that Ari has a few screws loose," Tyrone said as he too jumped down and joined the two women.

"Just because we've come to a truce and my hand's occupied doesn't necessarily mean that I can't punch your lights out," Ari warned, raising an eyebrow at him. "Besides, Lexi is the boss, and you should've obeyed her and gone _right_."

"We're going to be seeing the major for this anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it too much, Ari," Alexis said crossly as she began to leave the hangar, Tyrone and Ari on either side of her. Tyrone headed off down the hall to the adjoining hangars, probably to deflect the major or any other unknown audience members to the exercise.

"How did you know what I had said?" Alexis asked, turning back to face Ari, who was still contentedly working on her snack.

"I told you. Before he left, Stryker showed me where the control panels were and I just kicked back and listened to the radio conversations," Ari explained cheerfully. "Thankfully no superiors showed up because the panel I was hanging out at was really a place for commanders to deliver orders to individual members of the squadrons. I would've been kicked out faster than, well, I don't know."

"But you weren't fiddling with anything?" Alexis asked as they began walking in the direction that Tyrone had walked in.

Ari faked a dramatic gasp. "Alexis, do I look smart enough to do something that dubious?" she asked, spreading her hands out in the air as though to prove a point. "Remember, I once thought Tyler was a robot? Besides, jinxing communications and sabotaging exercises are more of Stryker's activities than mine."

"What are you talking about?" Alexis asked, wondering what her friend had recently discovered.

"The doofus left a puddle of yucky pink goo right where he knew I was going to walk. He did it before he left. Even after a mutual truce he's still aggravating me," Ari grumbled. "When he gets back, I'm going to leave a wrench in the internal workings of the jet and see how it longs it takes for him to notice."

"Good luck with that," Alexis replied, remembering her own failure when it came to messing with Starscream back when he was still ordering her around in Area 51. Ari's words about the 'pink goo' worried Alexis a little though; that meant Starscream was losing energon again. She wondered if he was just careless, or he was biting off more than he could chew again.

"Thanks. So, I was thinking of calling Tom so that I can…" Ari began.

_Crash!_

Silence was present for a few moments, and then there were a series of loud _bangs_ from down the hall. Ari and Alexis stared at each other for a moment, and then Alexis began to hurry in the direction of the room where the sounds had come from.

"I wouldn't worry about it; I didn't freak out every time I heard an explosion back in Area 51 after my first year there," Ari said as she jogged to catch up, her popsicle balanced precariously in her hand.

"Yeah, but I should make sure that Tyrone is all right. I don't know what to do if he got hurt in the process," Alexis said, slowing down to a walk at Ari's insistence.

"Are you guys gonna break up or something now?" Ari asked curiously, effectively snagging Alexis's attention.

"What are," Alexis began in indignation, but cut herself off when she remembered where Ari had been coming from. Ari had only been fifteen when her parents eventually divorced, the result from many fights between them. Since then, Ari had associated arguments between couples as potential separations. "No, Ari. We're not going to break up over something like this," she assured her friend, who nodded.

"Cool," Ari murmured as Tyrone came up to them.

"Major Cromwell wants to speak to you about what happened today," he said, his demeanor much more calmer since he'd had a chance to cool off. "I told him about I thought you said 'left' and you think you said 'right', and he still wants to talk to you."

"Did you hear or see the explosion that happened?" she asked, looking him over quickly.

"I actually walked in to find Cromwell shooting at an animal," Tyrone replied, looking surprised at his own fortune. "Apparently a raccoon got in at some point and was wrecking equipment, and Cromwell accidentally shot a few things that, um, blew up. Kind of makes you question the competence of the guy who originally put the explosives there in the first place."

"Okay. I'll see you when we're done then," she said, and was about to leave when Tyrone took her forearm and pulled her back so that they were facing each other

"I'm sorry for causing a ruckus," he murmured before kissing her lightly on the cheek.

"I know, I'll see you later," Alexis whispered back, gritting her teeth when she heard a slight gagging sound from Ari's direction. She slipped out of Tyrone's embrace and then walked towards the other hangar.

She pushed the door open, and then paused. The hangar had been horribly damaged, and even the massive door was barely hanging on by a hinge. Crates on the floor had been ripped open and their contents spilled. Burns and black marks scored the walls, and there was a large dent in the hangar wall. Major Cromwell was in there as well, but he wasn't alone. His wife, unusually pale-faced, was speaking to him quietly while glancing around in the hangar. Ethan nor Richard were nowhere in sight. There were also a few technicians who'd just walked in as well, and were in the process of beginning an investigation.

"Excuse me, Lisa," Cromwell said once he spotted Alexis standing there. He stepped around her and approached Alexis, his face settled in a grim expression. "Come with me," he instructed coolly, gesturing for her to follow him. She followed him to his office, knowing that somehow that his current anger hadn't been reserved for just his wife. Alexis was careful to keep pace with him even though she had to dodge security personnel as they went to investigate the source of the loud noises. He was silent as he entered his office, gesturing for her to follow.

"That was stupid Preston, giving that order to Maxwell, two people could've died out there today," he said sitting down behind his desk as she shut the door behind her. "Do you do that normally?" he demanded, looking up at her.

"No, sir," Alexis said through slightly gritted teeth; she thought Tyrone already cleared the incident with Cromwell. When he made no effort to ask another question, she added, "It was a miscommunication between us, I _know_ what I said…"

"The transcript from the audio booth will confirm who is at fault," Cromwell interrupted, scowling. Alexis got the distinct impression that since he'd been there for a while now, he was no longer cautious or hesitant about his leadership skills. He was going to start cracking down on them now.

"I though Lieutenant Maxwell cleared this all up," she said, propping herself up on her arms while leaning on the desk. "That's what he told me."

"He merely explained what happened. Besides, either way, this incident cannot happen again. Someone almost died today, and I will not permit a repeat," Cromwell informed her coolly. "Things will change before we go to Nellis Air Force base."

"We're going to Nellis? And you don't mind?" Alexis asked, taken aback by the sudden news. She knew she would have to leave DC soon, but she'd just found Ari again, and they still had much to catch up on. Besides, wouldn't Cromwell be haunted by images from his 'crash'? If she ever had to fake her own death, which she prayed she would never do, she would be plagued with images of the circumstances for weeks, even months.

"I won't have to fake any more crashes, don't worry," he assured her as he leaned back in his chair. "Lisa promised hell if I even thought about it," he added in a thoughtful manner. "I don't like making her so upset."

"Will she be coming with us or will she be going home?" Alexis asked carefully, sitting back down in the chair. Cromwell's anger may have not been present for the last few moments, but she suspected that it could all change in an instant.

"She will be going home with Ethan and Richard," Cromwell said, glancing at a family photograph. "Ethan is going to be upset; he's become rather attached to Starscream lately and I am not happy nor comfortable with Ethan being that close to him."

" 'Attached'?" Alexis repeated, unable to see the mental image of a ten year old clutching to Starscream's shirt. Starscream wouldn't hesitate to remove the problem with a cannon blast or two.

"He wanted a ride from Starscream because I wouldn't let him come in the jet with me," Cromwell explained while rolling his eyes. "Lisa wouldn't let either do the flight." He leaned forward again. "All right," he said in the tone that suggested that he was getting down to business. "We'll be leaving for Nellis as soon as Thayer approves of our request to leave. That's only going to happen once he finds a missing general of his and assigns us to her."

"A general?" Alexis repeated, frowning at his words.

"A former subordinate of Stanton's. Takes after her a little. It really is no wonder he keeps losing officers," Cromwell replied, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, this is how things are going to run. First, we get the general. Second, I will request a performance test so that she and I can determine who will go and who will stay. I have decided that the squadron needs a, ah, change in membership as well as command.

Alexis stared at him as his words processed through her head. "Are you suggesting that I'm not competent as a leader?" she asked in a low voice.

Cromwell matched her expression and tone before asking, "Did you not allow Starscream to manipulate you two years ago? Did you not nearly just cause a collision with two of your pilots, one of which you happen to have an ongoing relationship with?"

Alexis gritted her teeth as her face flushed, betraying the truth. "That is _none_ of your business," she hissed, standing up and slamming her palms onto the desk. Cromwell didn't even flinch. "For the last time, I do not know what happened out there! I swear I said 'right'!" She raised an eyebrow, and then added, "Isn't Starscream manipulating _you_ right now?

Cromwell deliberately ignored her. "Captain, you're dismissed for the time being. Until we sort through this mess, you will not take command of the squadron. First Lieutenant Maxwell will be joining you in probation. Your second lieutenant will be taking control of the squadron indefinitely," he said, turning in his chair so that he could enter some data into his computer. "That will be all," he said, turning back to face her.

Alexis stared at him for a few moments. "You. Can't. Do. That," she snarled, leaning forward on the desk.

"I think I just did," he replied calmly.

"There's must be some kind of regulation… like the colonel has to agree with you on this or something like that," Alexis countered.

"Colonel Reynolds is being questioned for the shellfish incident with Major Chrisman. I was informed that I would be in charge of everything until the general returns and either Reynolds returns or we receive a new officer," Cromwell calmly explained. She didn't faze him, and that made her frustrated. "But I will make this concession," he finally said, catching her attention. "If you can find _any_ kind of mention in the handbook or any rulebooks that I do have to have the approval of a superior officer, then I will concede and wait for the general."

Alexis sucked in a breath through her teeth, trying _not_ to be ticked off by the major. "Thank you sir. Is that all?" she finally asked, hoping he would catch onto her irritation with him and her impatience to leave the office.

"Yes, dismissed," Cromwell said before turning back to his monitor. Alexis saluted sharply, and then controlled her speed when leaving the office. This was a situation where the show of eagerness was not a good idea.

She honestly didn't see why Tyrone approved of the major. So far, he'd knocked her down in front of Thayer, accused her of allowing Starscream's manipulation, and now was threatening her position. She tried not to be _too_ angry with him since he did go missing for several years and was probably unused to commanding pilots, but this, well, she didn't know. She was probably blowing things out of perspective and needed Ari's outlook on life to bring them back in again.

Ari and Tyrone both were in the mess hall, sitting on opposite sides of the table with two plates of food before them both. Alexis sat down next to Ari with an audible _huff_ and laid her chin down on her crossed arms on the table. Then she tilted her head to see what Ari was doing, and was surprised to see the earlier-mentioned rulebook lying open on the section of punishments. Ari was flipping through the pages, skimming the text for something specific. "What did you do now?" Alexis finally asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Nothing yet," Ari replied. "Just wanted to see the consequences of slapping a superior officer across the face. The one across the table from me is ticking me off."

"You could get charged with insubordination," Tyrone suggested as Alexis reached across Ari and snatched the book from her friend's hands.

"Hey! Get your own!" Ari snapped, lunging for the book but Alexis twisted her body so that the book was in her outstretched hand away from Ari. Quitting the attempt quickly, Ari checked her nonexistent wristwatch and said, "You were in there for fifteen or twenty minutes tops. What happened?"

"Major Cromwell doesn't think I can keep my position; something about incompetence," Alexis explained as Tyrone jerked in anger.

"He can't do that…" he began, but Alexis cut him off.

"That's what I told him, but I have to find the rule that states that if I want him to observe that," Alexis said, turning the pages to the section on the duties and power of each rank.

"I don't know why you're freaking out. Think about it Lexi. Stryker may actually be useful for once in his life," Ari suggested, and Alexis looked up at her. "Stryker has to stick with Cromwell, but he wants to stay with you. If you leave the squadron, he leaves Cromwell, and Cromwell is without somebody to boss around. Ta-dah!"

Alexis gave her friend a 'yeah-right' expression. "I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon," she said before going back to the book. She didn't notice Tyrone's somewhat pleased expression, but Ari snickered when she spotted it.

"Tyrone, would you hate me if I played you and Davis off each other just to keep life here interesting for myself and a few others?" Ari asked, leaning on one elbow and grinning at Tyrone.

"How many others?" Tyrone asked warily.

Ari thought about it, and then said, "Five." He didn't need to know that she was keeping some of her compatriots in the coffee shop downtown entertained. Business did get slow on some days, and she always needed new material to keep the staff entertained. Plus, she'd mentioned something to her sister-in-law a couple months ago before returning to duty.

"Then yes, I would mind," Tyrone said, and then lowered his voice so Alexis couldn't hear. "I'm working on being diplomatic with Lieutenant Davis so that I can be clean of any quarrels between us."

Ari gave him a sour look. "Whatever happened to the good old days where the guy just had to get the dad's approval and there was all that sweet sometimes forbidden romance stuff?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "No under-table dealings or trickery…"

"Shakespeare in college?" Tyrone asked sarcastically.

"Nuh-uh. A little Austen in high school," Ari said before picking at her food and eating a little bit. "Close though. Plus Dad had no idea what I was reading at the time, which was cool with me."

"I wonder what a guy would have to endure in order to speak with your dad, if he is anything remotely like you..." Tyrone shot back as Alexis tuned back into the conversation. She kicked Tyrone under the table as she realized what he'd said to Ari. He grimaced, but didn't react otherwise.

"In order to see my dad, you'd probably need security clearance, good contacts, and a healthy respect for the US prison systems," Ari replied, raising an eyebrow. "He got busted by the federals last year for doing something or other; I haven't spoken to him in years so I wouldn't know."

"You asked for it," Alexis said to Tyrone, who shrugged. She bent down and continued to flip through the book.

Ari made a sound of slight impatience, and then said, "Lexi, I'll be right back okay? I want my sweater, and I left it in the hangar."

"Go for it," Alexis replied without looking up. Ari jerked the bench slightly as she stood up just to annoy her friend a little, and then disappeared from the mess altogether. Alexis finally looked up at Tyrone and asked, "Whatever persuaded you to go to Major Cromwell in the beginning?"

"Trying to make him like either one of us," he replied, a faint grin on his face. Despite the grin however, his voice sounded strained, making Alexis wonder if her second-in-command was getting sick or something like that. A shadow suddenly crossed his face however and he said, "Good afternoon, Stryker Davis."

Alexis whirled to find Starscream's hologram walking up to them. He appeared to have been ruffled at some point in time, but was at least attempting to conceal it. He sat down next to Tyrone and nodded a greeting to Alexis. "We were just chatting about your boss being difficult," Tyrone supplied helpfully as Starscream looked at him. "Knocking her off her post."

"Thanks Tyrone. Just because I told you doesn't mean I wanted to share that with _everyone_ we talked to," Alexis said, hoping Tyrone would catch the subtle hint to shut up.

"Ari already said as much, only more colorfully than Maxwell," Starscream said somewhat stiffly, as though he didn't approve of the changes that had been done in his absence. "She also explained the near-death encounter during the exercise, and, after reviewing the audio tapes, I must admit that the captain was correct," Starscream added in a tone that suggested that he didn't need to remove Thayer at all because he was already at the top of the chain. He was also sitting up straighter than Tyrone, and seemed to be peering down at Tyrone at times.

"Unofficial commander of the base or something?" Alexis asked, a small grin tugging the corner of her mouth.

"Be quiet," Starscream said sarcastically. "We all know that the good Thayer is the CO of the base as you so delicately put it…"

"_Ahhhhh!!!!!"_

All sounds in the mess fell quiet as Ari's distinctive, high-pitched scream pierced through the thick walls. Alexis remained frozen as the scream stopped, and then picked up three seconds later. She then leapt to her feet at the same time a few other personnel did, and began to run to the door to her friend's aid. Somehow, Ari still beat her. The door to the mess slammed open and Ari charged in, nearly running Alexis over. She did trip however in the end and slammed into Alexis, the pair landing on the floor with a painful _thump._

"Aliskevicz, what's wrong?" Mareski demanded, pulling Ari off of Alexis. "Did someone get murdered or something?" he asked as Tyrone pulled Alexis up. A thick ring of personnel had formed now, and all ears were focused on Ari, who was sheet-white and breathing hard.

"I'm… I'm good," she panted, wrenching her uniform out of Mareski's grip and hobbling over to Alexis. She took Alexis's shoulders and whispered, "Starscream is here. In Washington DC. I know I sound crazy on a daily basis, but I'm dead serious about this. I walked into the hangar, grabbed my sweater, and saw this, _gigantic_ Transformer, and I could see the F-22 elements on him, so I knew it _had _to be Screamer. I ran and got out before he caught me!"

"I know you're serious, I believe you," Alexis assured her, resisting the urge to look over her friend's shoulder and glare pointedly at Starscream's hologram, who looked believably confused at the moment. "Relax Ari, and just, pretend he isn't there so that um, the NEST team can be contacted and deal with him…"

"No offense to NEST, but they've got a nutcase for a leader! The twins made more sense to me than Galloway!" Ari hissed, careful to keep her voice down since Mareski and a few personnel were still hanging around to make sure she was going to be okay. Even Alexis could feel her friend's heart thumping quickly, so it would be a while before Ari ever completely calmed down.

"Perhaps the twins and you have similar intelligence levels, making it easy for you to understand one another better," Starscream supplied helpfully, and offered a faux wounded expression when Alexis glared at him.

"You, shut up," Ari snapped, jabbing a finger in his face. "Starscream is one of the most dangerous Decepticons out there since he is Megatron's SIC. I don't want to deal with him, so I'm calling in the professionals to get him out of there. From what I've heard, he is a crazy, trigger-happy, usurper, and an overall sneak and cheat. Unfortunately, he's got the same hologram technology as the Autobots, and it allows him to slip amongst us and cause divisions between allies and crumble fortress walls," Ari added, her voice growing deeper as though advertising a new movie with a dangerous villain at the helm.

"For all we know, he could've been getting a head start at all those things while you're here discussing it," Alexis suggested, purposely not looking at Starscream.

"What's a Decepticon?" Tyrone asked, but no one heard or answered him.

"Touché Alexis," Ari said before turning around to walk off, presumably to find Starscream. She paused, and then turned around to grab Starscream's holographic collar. "Congratulations Davis, you're the lucky guy who gets to help!" she announced before attempting to drag him off.

"Actually Ari, I wanted to talk to him first," Alexis interrupted while smiling, giving Ari no reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary. Ari and Starscream stared at each other for a few moments, and then she released his collar.

"Keep him in one piece, will ya? I need him to sniff Screamer out," Ari said, raising an eyebrow at her friend. She suddenly frowned, and then said, "The name 'Screamer' sounds wicked familiar… didn't we use that as your call sign at one point?"

"Yes, we did," Starscream answered in mock politeness before Alexis could speak.

"Then again, we said it was because of your temper," Ari amended. Alexis bit back the urge to tell Ari everything, because Tyrone and Mareski were still in hearing range forced her to keep her mouth shut. She shrugged and said, "Oh well, a mystery for another day. I'll be in the hangars when you two are done chatting."

"I thought you just ran from them like a bat out of hell," Mareski said to Ari's retreating back.

"Yeah, well, the thing is that the problem, aka the thing that scared me, is a F-22 jet. I figured I could start dismantling all the jets so I'm sure that the scary one is in pieces. Best I can do until the pros show up… will someone please come with me?" Ari said, all her bravado instantly fading when she thought of the task before her. "What if I see IT again?"

"Then call for help like a sane person instead of screaming bloody murder," Mareski replied, earning an eye roll from Ari.

"What do you want?" Starscream demanded quietly as she pulled him a little ways from the other couple of people who were beginning to tease Ari about seeing things in her adrenaline rush.

"Was it really worth scaring her unnecessarily like that?" Alexis asked, her voice strained from restraining her temper. First she'd nearly lost two of her pilots due to a damned communication error, second, Cromwell had threatened her position on the command hierarchy, third, Starscream had returned right when her nerves were being frayed, and then finally Ari had been scared senseless.

"I didn't startle her. She was seeing things again," Starscream retorted.

"Liar. She was able to identify you," Alexis countered. "Besides, there aren't any _other_ Decepticons hanging around are there?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, there are not. They are either with Megatron or wherever your government hauls off our carcasses once we've been killed," Starscream said somewhat stiffly. "Fine, so I scared her. What are you going to do about it?" he added crossly, crossing his arms over his chest in order to appear more threatening than usual.

"I'm going to tell her about you… _everything_ about you_,_" Alexis replied simply. "Once she knows, I can stop lying to her and she'll be a little less afraid of you."

"No, you're not going to tell her _anything,_" Starscream hissed.

"Try and stop me," she said, and then deliberately turned her back to him and began walking away. The officer in her kept trying to make her turn around and go back to him as he ordered her to come back, but her determination to not be constantly at his beck and call kept her walking forward. In a tiny corner of her brain, she was fussing over the possible consequences of insubordination with Starscream. She didn't care about the usual consequences because Starscream wasn't an usual officer. He would find a way to drive his point home painfully and ensure that she wouldn't forget her place in the future.

Was it so bad to admit even to herself that she was afraid?


	13. Coffee Nights

Thirteen

Coffee Nights

"So the hunt didn't go well at all?" Tyrone asked curiously as Alexis pushed open the glass door to one of the more hidden coffee shops in the capital. The nice thing about was that the café was more of a secret in the military because it was here that the soldiers could unwind without the worry of civilians listening in to less-than-fully-censured stories.

"No! Bringing Stryker along was _extremely _counterproductive; he was more interested in talking about the personnel instead of hunting for Starscream!" Ari hissed irritably as she slipped into a tall chair at her favorite table near the back of the room. "He even was against dismantling the jets!" she added crossly as Alexis took the seat across from her and Tyrone settled in next to Alexis. "I figured, 'hey, he's destroyed a hangar wall and a rickety old barracks, so what's a few adjustments to the jets to him?' Apparently that bugs him a heck of a lot more than destroying buildings," she said as she accepted one of the three small menus from the harried looking waitress.

"So you two spent more time arguing than working?" Tyrone asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, I managed to gimmick Major Cromwell's jet when Stryker was distracted with Lexi, so I guess it wasn't a _total_ loss," Ari said grudgingly as she laid the menu flat on the table. "Question: do you have anything that's absolutely disgusting?" she asked the waitress, who raised an eyebrow at the inquiry.

"Define 'disgusting'," the waitress finally replied hesitantly.

"Disgusting as in I'm totally going to regret eating it later," Ari replied, looking up hopefully at the waitress.

"Just watch," Tyrone muttered to Alexis, who nodded. "She eats that junk, and then Mareski will give them all a physical tomorrow. KIA." He raised an eyebrow as Ari ordered a few junk items, and then said, "I'll have whatever she's having," while gesturing to Alexis, who had ordered before Ari.

"Give me a couple minutes then," the waitress replied exhaustedly before walking away.

"You think the physical would kill Ari? 'Killed In Action'?" Alexis asked, turning back to Tyrone. "She's not _that_ out of shape."

" '_Karma_ In Action'," Tyrone clarified as he watched Ari take a sip from one of the three glasses of water the waitress had left behind. "Where did you ever find her?" he asked, looking at Alexis.

"She actually found me on the same day she got back together with Tyler. The pair of them hadn't seen each other in years then," Alexis explained quietly. "They were looking for somewhere to hide, I had gotten stuck in a maintenance closet by accident earlier that day. Worked out for everybody in the end."

Tyrone startled everyone by erupting in laughter. Alexis scowled and punched him in the shoulder playfully while Ari rolled her eyes. "Guess where you're going if you don't shut up," Ari warned.

"How the heck did you get locked in a _closet_?" Tyrone asked, still grinning broadly.

"Accident," Alexis replied, smiling. She swatted away Tyrone's hand before he could get his own punch in. She turned back to Ari and asked, "How did Stryker treat you despite your argument?"

"Usual. What started the argument was that I told him that I dismantled Cromwell's jet a bit. He got all bent out of shape, and then I called him a suck-up and bootlicker, and then he said that I was a clueless idiot. So I punched him… or at least tried to; he easily dodged," Ari said, frowning towards the end. "This is where it got weird; instead of punching back, he reminded me that we shared a common enemy. Then, instead of clarifying what the heck he meant by that, he began asking about your wonderful flight exercise!" she snapped as the waitress reappeared with their drinks. Three coffees, three waters.

"Your food is coming out in a moment hon," the waitress said before turning to head back into the kitchen.

"When people call me 'hon', I feel like a little kid again," Ari said thoughtfully to the waitress's retreating back.

"Is that a good feeling?" Tyrone asked.

"I don't know. Kids can get away with just about anything except murder," Ari said as she sipped her coffee. "Why did I order water?" she asked suddenly, inspecting the glass.

"Because I did, and I had wanted something cool to wash the aftertaste out, plus it's refreshing," Alexis replied. She looked at Ari and asked, "Back to Stryker. What did you two do after your little tiff?" She glanced around to make sure that none of the other patrons, which consisted of military personnel, were listening to their conversation.

"After the flight exercise conversation, we talked about Starscream," Ari replied, and Alexis wished she'd been there to see Starscream's side of the conversation. "I told him that Starscream was a coward to be hiding like this, and he said that cowards are usually the survivors. Then _I_ told him that Starscream was a pretty dumb survivor since he came here to hide from his boss. Then we found the only F-22 that dried salt all over it, and I told him I had found the right F-22."

"What made you think it was his?" Tyrone asked curiously.

"Think about it. A jet goes missing for a while, then reappears all covered in ocean salt. Since I have yet to hear of rumors of an F-22 Raptor taking the plunge in US waters, and I think it's safe to assume that since he doesn't like being cooped for long, went far away the other night, got into a tussle, and then came back in ocean water which dried long before I found it. Besides, how many pilots do you know would go near enough the ocean to get wet?" Ari replied simply.

"Dare I ask what you did about it?" Alexis asked.

"Go ahead. I dismantled the inner workings so that I'm _confident_ he won't come and hunt me down anytime soon for it. That way, he's helpless when the professionals come in to deal with him," Ari said, leaning back into her chair. "I didn't fix the other jets though, just in case I'm wrong and the seawater jet is the innocent one.

"There are professionals?" Tyrone asked.

"Heck yeah. But I haven't called them yet, I was going to do so in the morning. I didn't tell Stryker that," Ari said, nodding in a way that indicated she was to be taken seriously this time.

"Don't you think Stryker would want to know?" Tyrone asked warily as though he no longer trusted any kind of plan Ari had.

"Duh, why do you think I didn't tell him? He may be Lexi's boss, but I'm sure as hell that he's not _mine. _I don't have to report everything I do to him," Ari replied, snorting in laughter.

"I don't like this control that Stryker is exerting over the two of you. Someone should put him back in his right place… maybe I could do something," Tyrone said thoughtfully.

Alexis made a _pfft_ sound. "It's your life," she warned.

"Yeah… who are they?" Ari suddenly asked, jerking with her chin to a few people who had just walked into the café.

Tyrone and Alexis turned to see a small knot of people of varying heights walking together and careful not to look at the main crowd. Ari snarled softly at the sight of a person with a slightly nodding gait. "I think I know that loser…is that Jackson? Tobias Jackson?" she asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"I don't know… I don't remember how he walks," Alexis replied, glancing up at the figure in question. "The last time I really saw him, he and Stryker were getting chummy before we crashed the old barracks,"

"Here's a way to tell if it's Toby or not," Ari suggested, fishing around in her glass for an ice cube. She held it with three fingers and said, "If the guy turns and starts yelling at me, then it's Toby. If he doesn't turn around, well, um, I hope that doesn't happen because that would be really awkward."

"For me and you," Alexis added as Ari carefully aimed. "Maybe you shouldn't throw…"

The man let out a yelp of surprise as the ice cube ricocheted off of the side of his head. No one in the café took much notice because temper flares amongst the soldiers were somewhat common. The hired bouncer only tackled the severe fights because age and strength usually worked against him and it wasn't even worth the effort sometimes.

"Nope, not Tobias," Alexis said as the waitress returned with Ari's food. "What are you going to do now?"

"Crawl underneath the bedcovers and _hide_," Ari growled as she began attacking the unlucky pastry. Tyrone rolled his eyes at Ari's violent nature and continued to work on the coffee.

Their assumptions were incorrect. Tobias Jackson hadn't reacted because he already had a good idea who had thrown the ice cube and didn't want to start anything. Besides, he wasn't 'officially' in DC until the morning, when he would be permitted to take meals with the rest of the personnel.

"Does that happen normally?" Rose asked, safe in the shadow of Ratchet's hologram as the pair of them walked on Tobias's other side.

"I wouldn't know since I haven't been here in a while, but considering the welcome I got from her when she dropped by Diego Garcia the last two times, I suppose that this is normal for her," Tobias said, glancing at Ari from the corner of his eye. She had already forgotten about him and was laughing at something either Captain Preston or the unfamiliar man had said. "See? She's already forgotten about me. I'm still trying to figure out how such a clueless person made it into the military."

"I'm sure she knows," Lucas volunteered behind Tobias. "Why don't you ask her tomorrow morning?" he suggested loud enough for Tobias to hear.

"And get my head ripped off first thing? In your dreams Roxbury," Tobias shot back as they reached the door that led to the backroom of the café. He tried to restrain his temper; out of all of them, the Autobots had had the best chance for sleep. Twitch had reappeared during the voyage aboard the Navy ship, easing Galloway's fears of a crazy criminal loose on Diego Garcia. Twitch had still been bent on walking away with at least Sideswipe. Twitch ended up getting pushed back into the crate again. A few NEST personnel from both America and Great Britain had volunteered to remain behind and vamp up the base's security in hopes that the Decepticons decided it was in their best interest to stay away and NEST would remain in operation. Thayer nor the Secretary of Defense wasted any time when they'd arrived because an officer informed them in the harbor that the two men wanted to see the team responsible for taking the unauthorized trip as well as a few Autobots and NEST representatives.

The officer had just specified the time. Lucas and Tobias were still in on the loop to know that the location was the only coffee place in the city where privacy was more or less guaranteed.

The backroom was just the right size, with comfy chairs and a few low tables. It was just Galloway, Tobias, Lucas, Kina, Rose, and Stanton from the humans, and Optimus and Ratchet from the Autobots. Lucas nodded respectfully to Thayer, who cracked a small grin at the sight of a former pilot. Johnson, the current Secretary of Defense, gestured for them to take a seat, all the while grinning slightly. "It is an honor to meet you at last, Optimus Prime," he finally said graciously to the tall hologram.

"I hope that we can have a better understanding than with Mr. Galloway," Optimus replied, politely declining the offered seat.

"Yes, I was wondering about that too, Galloway," Thayer said, raising an eyebrow in Galloway's direction.

"It's a good story, I wouldn't worry," Stanton said from her corner, offering an innocent smile when Thayer made eye contact with her. She was careful to avoid Johnson's eye; her relationship with the Secretary of Defense had been somewhat rocky of late.

"I hope so, because after maintaining a long silence with us like that, I was inclined to send a legitimate task force after him," Johnson replied calmly as a waitress appeared and left a tray of full coffee cups on the center table. "But we'll get to that in a minute. Colonel, it's been two or so years since you've been here. We've never spoken in person to each other, and based on what Keller told me, I think you're taking this meeting awfully calmly."

"I think I've learned my lesson well, that's all," Stanton replied sweetly, folding her hands on her lap.

"Very well," Johnson replied, unsure of what to make of Stanton's response. A quick glance to Thayer revealed that the man's expression was curiously blank. Then Johnson said, "Chief Thayer, I believe there was a person you wanted to speak to…"

"Yes. General Skye, I have a rule that states that I need some kind of warning from you if you're about to go off somewhere on an unauthorized mission. That way, I don't waste time panicking, my staff doesn't waste energy scrambling around to get a fix on your location, and my staff and I all save our eardrums from Wilson losing his temper with us," Thayer explained calmly, and Kina nodded in acknowledgement. "I made the error of accusing Wilson of aiding you when he was in the middle of helping a wounded pilot; the man knows how to cuss."

"Yes sir," Kina replied calmly, and then turned to face Lucas when Lucas began choking on his coffee. "Something wrong, Roxbury?"

"_You_ were the missing CO? A _general?_" Lucas sputtered after Tobias had whacked him on the back. "A general on a unauthorized mission? And you didn't think to, oh, I don't know, _let me know?_" Lucas demanded once the liquid was completely out his throat. "How did you get past Wilson?"

"Why do you think I wanted Mark to shut up with the 'we're going to get arrested' warnings?" Kina shot back. "As for Tom, he's not able to access _everybody's _profiles! Besides, I wanted in. The mission sounded like fun."

"That's beside the point," Johnson cut in. He glanced at Optimus and said, "Once word about Jordan had come through and after Galloway passed along your message recently, the president had amended his orders concerning NEST. Now he wants to know if there's a way to stop the Decepticons at the source."

"It will be difficult to stop them now since they have used the time given to gather forces," Optimus replied. "We need to find them first."

"It also may explain why they were able to find Diego Garcia, or compromise the satellite images on our end during Jordan," Thayer added, glancing at Johnson.

"They will be even harder to stop than before. Megatron is once again in charge and Starscream is by his side once again. They were fighting together at Diego Garcia, and alone they are formidable, but them together is more of a challenge," Ratchet warned from where he was standing at Optimus's side.

"Is there a way to split them up?" Thayer asked. "Any old arguments or wedge to use against them?"

"Everyone knows that Starscream has always wanted Megatron's position as Decepticon leader, and will do anything to get it. He tried to make his move when Megatron was still in the Laurentian Abyss, but not all Decepticons obeyed him then," Optimus said.

"Even if we did find something, how would you use it against them?" Stanton asked from her corner. "Neither them are someone you can easily call up on the cell or ask the operator for a number."

"We could try to draw them out of hiding. Find some bait that's to irresistible, set up a trap, and then jump them when they're occupied," Stanton suggested before returning to her coffee. "Question: how does the purple Starscream-wannabe factor into all of this, or is he an unnecessary addition?"

" 'Purple Starscream-wannabe'?" Ratchet repeated, frowning.

"A purple-painted F-22 tried to pass himself off as Starscream, but Stanton caught onto the ruse," Thayer explained.

Ratchet groaned while Optimus sighed. "I hope that isn't Skywarp you're describing; the twins cause enough trouble without him," Ratchet grumbled, glancing at Stanton. "I can't tell you how many times they've tried to bring him down and wound up in the medical bay instead…"

"Skywarp is perhaps the less stable of Starscream's two compatriots," Optimus explained quietly. "Unlike the other compatriot, Thundercracker, Skywarp has the ability to teleport at a moment's notice and will probably find the human race to be an object of curiosity instead of an immediate threat."

"In other words, he'd probably suck at trying to pass off as one of us. Okay folks, everyone start looking for that _one_ human who isn't acting like a human," Tobias said, his eyes now closed. "I'll cover the northeast, Stanton can have the Midwest, Skye can have the southeast, Connelly, if she wants, can cover the southwest, and Galloway can look in the northwest. The SecDef can look in the place I missed, if there are any. Okay, let's go."

"What about Thundercracker?" Johnson asked. "Will he prove to be a problem?"

"Depends. There is some suspicion that he is not as fully committed to the Decepticon cause as Starscream," Optimus replied. "Nevertheless, he is still lethal and not to be underestimated."

"We'll need all the personnel we can get then," Galloway said grimly. He glanced at Tobias and asked, "What happened to Major Lennox and Master Sergeant Epps? We need to muster all available personnel for this, and they are, uh, more persuasive when it comes to rallying NEST soldiers."

"I have absolutely no idea sir," Tobias deadpanned. He ignored Stanton's raised eyebrow off to the side.

A soft knock interrupted the conversation. The door opened without invitation and a waitress stuck her head in. "Gentlemen, I apologize for the interruption, but you had an eavesdropper a few minutes ago. We already evicted them out of the building, but I thought you would want to know."

"Who?" Thayer asked wearily.

"An Air Force lieutenant. We already tossed her out, but she was insistent on figuring out the identity of a man she had accidentally thrown an ice cube at earlier," the waitress explained, rolling her eyes in annoyance before leaving the room again.

"I don't know about you guys, but everything with Ari is an accident," Tobias muttered darkly as Kina pretended to gasp.

"Tobias! How could you say such a thing about an angel?" she asked, winking at him as Lucas bit back a laugh at Tobias's shocked expression.

"Obviously you haven't seen what a little devil she's become lately," Tobias shot back.

"Knock it off you two," Thayer interrupted. "Now, it is at least past ten, possibly later. You all must be worn out and further interrogation is not going to do the trick. General Skye, I want a full report of your trip to Diego Garcia on my desk by 1200 hours tomorrow. That way we can all say the trip was authorized and no one has to deal with the consequences. Jackson and Stanton, you're both going to lay low amongst the other personnel until we can get together again to plan our next move. Miss Connelly, whether you like it or not you're going to be staying in DC until further notice," he said, looking at each person in turn.

"Galloway, I want a _full_ explanation on _my_ desk at some point tomorrow," Johnson added, scowling at the man. "I am more than ready to settle the issue of rank with the president if necessary. You agreed to be a liaison between NEST and the federal governments. NEST technically falls under the Defense Department, my department, and so I want to be included with whatever goes on between the government and NEST." He turned to face Optimus. "We can secure a safe place for you and your comrades to stay in during your stay here in DC."

"The south hangars in Andrews are empty as far as I know," Thayer volunteered. "Unless you have another place in mind…"

"We will discuss it with our comrades first," Optimus said calmly. "We also wish to discuss the future of NEST with Galloway present."

"Of course," Johnson agreed, standing up with Thayer. As they began to leave, Stanton left her corner and sidled up to Galloway, getting in between him and Johnson.

"What are you going to tell him?" she asked as they left the backroom. The café was now empty, the closing hours having passed a while ago.

"Everything I told you. Why, want me to edit something out?" he asked sarcastically as they both took their coats from the hangers near the entrance.

"No. Actually, yes," Stanton replied, earning an odd look from Galloway. Tobias, recognizing Stanton's manipulation trick forming, moved in behind the pair of them for the impending intervention. Unaware of her audience, Stanton continued, "Reconfigure the story so that it sounds like it was a group of _people_ who coerced you into keeping silence. Thayer will be smart enough to catch on to what you're really saying without you actually saying it. That way, if Starscream magically reappears, you can honestly say you didn't say anything…"

"Mixing up lies and truth is your department, Antonia. I can do this without help," Galloway interrupted, and then continued walking towards the car while Stanton and Tobias remained on the sidewalk.

"That makes us both members of the same department unless politicians became one hundred percent honest while I was away," Stanton remarked.

"I will see you tomorrow, _Colonel_. Better hope that it's going to be sunny with no psychotic sentient jets popping up," Galloway replied simply as he got into the car.

"What about the proposed victims?" Stanton asked as the car sped off into the dark. "How are you going to sleep at night with three deaths on your conscience?"

"Apparently fine… for now," Tobias said, moving so that he was standing next to her. "Did he ever specify the victims?"

"Nope, just Captain Preston. It can't be her though because you and I know that Starscream _used _to care for her," Stanton replied calmly. She glanced at him and asked, "You do know where Major Lennox went don't you?"

"Actually, I don't. There is only one person in the world right now who knows their exact location and she's in no position to tell it because she's probably forgotten all about it by now," Tobias replied, looking at Stanton. "I want to put ten bucks on that."

"That sure?"

"Ma'am, she threw a freaking ice cube at my head an hour ago. I think she's forgotten. Kind of hard to remember things anyway when you've got the memory and attention span of a goldfish," Tobias said.

"Then she must be a pretty lethal goldfish if she remembers far back enough to remember when you rattled Starscream with the whole 'backstabber' spiel, and still hate you for it," Stanton replied, buttoning up her coat to keep out the chilly air.

"I distinctly remember you telling me to say anything to rattle them all up," Tobias reminded her.

There was a moment of silence between the pair. "Tell me how many personnel you're hiding," Stanton calmly ordered, using her rank to her advantage.

"Four, ma'am. Not enough to be a threat. Two soldiers and two pilots," Tobias said.

"We might need them since they are trained to handle scenarios like this. Talk to your 'goldfish' later and find out where they are," Stanton said before she started walking towards the base.

"The 'goldfish' is going to rip my head off but who cares? No one apparently," Tobias grumbled as he followed her down the street into darkness.

------------

A/N: Weekly updates in the immediate future. :D


	14. Settling In

Fourteen

Settling In

"I didn't sleep at all last night; kept seeing Starscream in the dark," Ari grumbled as she sat down with Alexis that morning in the mess hall with their backs to the main entrance. She made a face at the food on their trays but didn't comment on it.

"Is that why I heard screaming at random intervals during the night?" Tyrone asked crossly as he sat down across from them. "The walls in the barracks aren't soundproof or thick enough to blot you out," he added, glaring at Ari who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Actually, I think the second-to-last scream was a 'screaming herself awake' scream," Alexis said, looking at her drowsy friend. She looked back at Tyrone's puzzled expression and explained, "I used to be roommates with her. She used to scream a lot the first year with us because Charlie, the raccoon at the base, used to get into our room and climb all over us in general, but we'd think that Riley would sic Charlie on her in particular. By the end of the year, Marcia, Kina, and I used to make it a game to identify what kind of scream it was, and obviously the person with the most correct guesses would win the desserts of the other players."

"I still hate you guys for that," Ari said, scowling as she stabbed her bacon strips with her fork. "I still hate every little mean thing that you all did…"

"It was sufficient payment for every time you got me into trouble during training school," Alexis replied irritably. "You believe in karma or not?" she added as she began eating the breakfast. Tyrone had his usual Dunkin' Donuts breakfast despite the fact he'd started sleeping the barracks instead of his apartment.

"No, I don't," Ari bit back as she began digging in. "Even though it would help if I knew what 'karma' actually meant, I still don't believe in it." She rubbed her forehead and said, "I would feel much, _much_ better if I was sure that Starscream wasn't around to get me, what with my involvement with NEST and all…"

"Call it a hunch, but I don't think that Starscream is out to get _you_ in particular," Alexis interrupted, vividly remembering how she'd defied him the day before. "You're not interesting enough yet to be of much notice."

"I don't know, it would still help if I knew what his hologram looked like so I could avoid that particular person and leave their stuff alone," Ari said, casting a wary eye around the mess. "For all I know he could either be a general or worse, he's captured Thayer and we're blindly obeying an impersonator."

"Ah, I don't think that, I think he's got a much lower rank than a general. A general or chief of staff would be too conspicuous for his line of work," Alexis replied, shrugging and looking at Tyrone. He looked confused because of their discussion topic, but he could read her expression well enough to know that it was wiser not to ask about it. She wasn't going to tell Starscream's secret in front of Tyrone either. Ari was more of a visual and experience learner, and Alexis was already detailing the best way to show instead of tell Ari. Ari would be unable to hate her for it because it was Alexis not Ari who would receive the most, if any, injuries from the upcoming venture.

"Do you think he might be the one you have to suck up for in order to keep your rank of captain?" Ari asked curiously, using her fork to slice then stab the chunk of doughnut from Tyrone's breakfast. "You're the one with the more interesting breakfast here," she told him when he scowled at her for the theft.

"I hope it won't come to sucking up to another superior. I haven't given up hope in the books yet," Alexis replied, shrugging. Ari snorted, muttered something under her breath before refocusing on the meal before her.

"Hey Aliskevicz… whoa, what the hell?" Mareski said, unexpectedly appearing at the end of the table. He drew back in surprise when Ari glared daggers at him through shadowed eyes. "Did someone stay up late reading old army reports from London?" he teased.

"Come a little closer and ask that again," Ari growled but Alexis placed a hand out on Ari's chest to prevent her friend from lunging out at Mareski. Allowing her friend to pacify her for now, Ari leaned back in her seat and asked conversationally, "So, what's up?"

"I decided that since we've all got the adequate downtime, we should stay in tiptop shape. Timed obstacle course later this afternoon, and winner gets bragging rights," Mareski said, still grinning despite the fact Ari had nearly attacked him a few moments ago.

"Are you serious?" Ari asked while Tyrone winked at Alexis, who rolled her eyes.

"Yep! Figured we might as well, and then do an in-flight exercise or two later this afternoon. Heard about what happened with Cromwell's squadron the other day… talk about a mess," Mareski said, and Ari let out a small squeak while Tyrone sighed and Alexis rolled her eyes at the reminder.

"Thanks for the reminder," Alexis said in a faux sweet tone. Mareski winced and turned to face her, intent on apologizing.

"Goodbye!" Ari snapped, reaching over and pushing him away. "You can charge me for insubordination or misconduct or whatever later." They watched as Mareski walked away, and then Ari said, "Believe it or not, there are times when I could just… I don't know. I can't think straight."

"I wonder why," Tyrone muttered to himself, ignoring Ari's glare.

The three of them had about fifteen to twenty minutes of silence. Ari alternated between her meal and whatever Tyrone was eating. Alexis ignored their bickering as she slowly ate while perusing the manual to find the desired information. Tyrone was silently pleading Alexis for intervention as he lost a part of his food to Ari's vengeful fork at random intervals. Finding no sympathy, he waited until Ari was coming in for another bite so that he could stab his knife down between the fork prongs and jam the instrument completely. Then he swore quietly as Ari kicked him underneath the table, releasing her fork in the process. Finally, he just pushed the remnants of his breakfast across the table to Ari, who raised her eyebrow in curiosity before pushing it back to him, deciding that she didn't want it in the end.

Muttering incoherent things to himself Tyrone leaned back in his seat. After a few moments however, he leaned forward and quietly asked, "Alexis, hypothetically speaking, if a general, a colonel, and a captain were coming straight towards you, what would you do?"

"I don't know; do I know these magical officers of yours?" Ari asked, not looking up.

"No, let's pretend you don't," Tyrone said, facing Ari now. "What do you do?"

"Run for the hills… screaming," Ari said without hesitation. "Unless Mareski tells me otherwise, I try to avoid anyone I don't know with a higher rank than captain. But if was Major Cromwell," she continued as Alexis frowned; Tyrone was looking past the both of them. "If it was Major Cromwell, I'd punch his lights out, _then_ run," she continued.

Alexis immediately stiffened once she realized that there was another, _male_ presence leaning past her shoulder between her and Ari. She knew it wasn't Starscream; he would've gotten her attention by now, but she still didn't like this stranger being extremely close… plus Tyrone was fighting hard _not_ to laugh.

"Why would you punch the major out in the first place?" a familiar male voice asked conversationally. Alexis closed her eyes when she recognized the voice, and knew Ari would be screaming once again in a few minutes.

"Because he was mean to Alexis and I happen to hate him… wait a sec, who are you?" Ari asked, pausing in her meal to turn around to face the speaker.

Tobias Jackson fought back a grin as Ari studied him for a few moments, her expression turning sour as she recognized whom he was. She pressed her lips into a thin line and then turned back to face Tyrone. "If there's an obnoxious captain hanging over my shoulder, then that means your situation wasn't hypothetical after all and there really is a general and colonel hanging around, right?" she asked, jabbing her thumb into Tobias's face.

"Actually, the general is yapping with some other VIP right now, but the colonel is coming," Tyrone amended.

Ari stood up stiffly. "Then if you will excuse me, I have to leave; I am not ready to face a superior officer and _not_ rip their head off. I am too tired to be civilized," she said, and then left the table, taking her breakfast with her out of the mess.

"What riled her up?" Tobias asked, sitting down in the recently vacated seat while looking at Ari's retreating back.

"I'll tell you later… more of NEST business," Alexis muttered as she heard more brisk footsteps approaching. "Ari, it's only Tobias," she said without looking over her shoulder, assuming that Ari had returned for another spat with Jackson.

"No one told me Aliskevicz was here," Stanton replied calmly as she sat down beside Tyrone, who edged away from the woman. She shook her head when Alexis began to stand up in the presence of a superior. "I'm supposed to be off-duty right now," she said as Tobias snickered.

"That's why she's with us lowlifes rather than the VIPs," Tobias said, leaning on the table. "Now the general on the other hand…" he said, his voice trailing off as he shrugged. "She's coming… I think."

"Nice," Alexis said, finishing off of the last of her drink. Turning around since Tyrone was staring at someone past her shoulder. She turned, and then felt a bubble of excitement and delight build in her chest as she recognized her old friend, a woman she hadn't seen in three long years. "Kina!" she shouted, jumping out of her seat. Kina turned at the mention of her name, and laughed when she spotted Alexis. For a moment, the two of them were young squadron mates again as they hugged each other.

Tyrone winced as both women greeted each other happily. "Do they know each other?" he asked, well aware of how stupid the question was.

Tobias gave him a 'what-do-_you_-think?' look before saying, "I'm not sure, they just might since they're acting like little kids right now." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and asked, "Why are you concerned?"

"Because I thought I just had to get past Ari when it came to approval of my relationship with Alexis," Tyrone said carefully as he watched Kina and Alexis returning to the table.

Tobias snorted, raising an eyebrow at Tyrone's words. "Best way to get _Ari's _approval is to pay up front, and then agree with her on anything she says or does," he said, rolling his eyes as Alexis reclaimed her seat with Kina on her other side. Tyrone wasn't sure of what to make of this; he hadn't seen Alexis this…giddy before.

"This is Lieutenant Tyrone Maxwell. He's my second-in-command on the squadron," Alexis explained, still smiling. "This is my friend Kina Skye, Colonel Stanton is next to you, and…"

"Captain Jackson. Says so on his nametag," Tyrone interrupted, managing a smile for Tobias. He glanced at Stanton, wondering how to delicately ask his next question.

"So where's Ari? I saw her a few minutes ago," Kina said quietly, scanning the mess hall. "I also heard her screaming last night, so let me guess: she saw something bad during the day and had nightmares about it last night?"

Alexis nodded, and then said, "It was, um,"

"A Decepticon?" Tobias hissed as Tyrone asked Stanton if she really was as crazy as everyone said, beginning what was promised to be a long and intense quarrel between them. Stanton sensed the need for privacy between the three of them and decided to drag the argument out long enough to distract Tyrone.

"Starscream," Alexis clarified, and Kina leaned in to hear Alexis better. "He returned a week or so ago, left, and returned just yesterday," she explained. "Ari is still unaware, but she supposedly saw him in his true form, but that can't be possible because his hologram was talking to me at the same time she saw him."

"You've spoken with Starscream?" Kina asked, frowning.

Alexis gritted her teeth as Tobias snickered. "You have _no_ idea," Tobias said, grinning broadly. "I think they've done more than just talked…_ow!_" He swore when Alexis elbowed him harshly in a sensitive part of the ribcage.

"He never knows what he's talking about," Alexis said, and Kina nodded in agreement. "Starscream and I have just talked, _nothing_ else," she added, glaring at Tobias for effect.

"Whatever. So Ari knows about him now, right?" Tobias asked. Off to the side, Tyrone was trying to defend himself from Stanton's biting comebacks, but was failing miserably. Alexis guessed that he had struck a nerve, and Stanton was trying very hard not to let the argument become personal.

"No. I'm coming up with a plan to let her _learn_ about Starscream. She's a visual learner, remember?" Alexis whispered back.

"Be careful; I think the Autobots are staying in the south hangar, and I don't think Starscream found out yet," Kina said. "He might be wired up because he doesn't know where his opponents are when in reality they're under the same roof."

"One thing at a time, Ari first," Alexis said, glaring at Tobias at the same time.

"Alexis?" Tyrone said, interrupting the conversation while breaking away from his argument with Stanton. Once he had her attention, he said, "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I'm going to go find Stryker and see if I can talk to him. If he doesn't listen, I'm going to try and set him straight. He has no right to treat Ari and you like that."

"Uh, okay," she replied, suddenly aware of the three-man audience. "Just one order," she added, and he nodded eagerly. "No… fighting…_at all_," she hissed.

"Yes, Alexis," he said, and then without a care of the other three, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He stood up, nodded in respect to Kina and Stanton, and then left the table.

Tobias waited until Tyrone was out of earshot before cracking up in laughter. "Starscream must _love _that," he said, grinning broadly. Kina looked slightly put out as though she knew that there was something Alexis had neglected to mention to her because Stanton also snickered a bit at the mention of Starscream.

"I don't think he's interested anymore," Alexis admitted, shrugging at Tobias's flash of immaturity. "The last time that we really talked, he wanted to know whom I saw as my husband," she said. She glanced at Kina and said, "To make a long story short, Starscream posed as a 401st pilot named Stryker Davis, and I sort of found out who he was, and then we sort of got close. But then he left and I think we're back to the mutual 'friendship' stage."

"He didn't hurt you at any point did he?" Kina demanded, scowling at the thought of the Decepticon getting that close.

"Actually, the final tally was a sprained wrist and a broken rib," Alexis said, looking at her old friend. "That's not including whatever I incurred from the run at the barracks," she added, glancing at Stanton. The woman had ordered Sasquatch not to tell Alexis the extent of the injuries, and Alexis only had a vague idea because of the amount of time she'd spent in the hospital before heading out to Great Britain.

"Hello Captain Loser," Ari said, appearing out of nowhere and taking Tyrone's empty spot. She looked over Tobias once before announcing, "You look like you just had a good laugh at something. Care to let me in on the joke?"

"Stryker and Tyrone," Kina replied, privately unsure if Ari would understand.

"Kina!" Ari cried joyfully, and did an awkward hug with Kina over the table. Settling back down in her seat, she said, "So Stryker swung by? I stopped by 'cause Tyrone looked all pissed off and I thought there was a fight or something and there was still carnage."

"Nope, he's off to start the fight despite the boss's orders," Tobias replied, still grinning.

"Damn, then I've got to go and find them. First though, how have you been Kina? Did you get my letter?" Ari asked, leaning on the table with one elbow.

"Yes, all sixteen pages of it," Kina replied, smiling slightly. "Other than being scared that one time in London, how was your stay? How have you been?"

"Okay I guess… let's see. I met Tweedledee for the first time, saw Starscream in his true form, and realized that Tweedledum decided to come by the next day just to be annoying!" Ari said, starting her sentence in a sweet tone, and ending with half-yelling in Tobias's face and leaning across the table.

There was a moment of silence. "How much sugar did you have this morning?" Alexis asked.

"No more than usual… oh wait, there was Tyrone's doughnuts. Okay, the usual plus bits of a doughnut," Ari replied.

"How much sleep did you have last night?" Alexis asked even though she already knew the answer.

"Four and a half hours at the most," Ari replied.

"There's the problem," Kina finally said. "Maybe you should get some shut-eye before you complete the physical that Captain Mareski told me about. Then you can sleep after."

Ari frowned thoughtfully, and then said, "Good idea." She stood up and then said, "Just let me know when Stryker or Tyrone snap okay? I want to see who'll win."

"Stryker will… no doubt," Tobias muttered. Then he said, "Wait, Ari? Can I ask you a question?"

"I don't know, does the fate of the world depend on it?" she asked sarcastically, pausing in her tracks and turning around on her heel.

"Yeah," Tobias answered. "Where are Major Lennox and the three NEST personnel who disappeared with him?"

Ari stared at him as though he had just spoken Cybertronian to her. "What are you talking about?" she asked slowly, raising an eyebrow and staring at him in a peculiar manner.

Alexis watched as Tobias's jaw simply dropped open in shock. "Wh… what do you mean 'what are you talking about?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"What are you talking about? It's not complicated Tobias, I don't know what you're talking about. Is 'NEST' code for something?" Ari slowly said, putting air quotes around 'NEST'.

Tobias was too stunned to manage another reply. Kina laughed slightly before saying, "Ari, we'll let you know if there's a tiff okay? Just try to stay out of trouble yourself."

"Sounds good," Ari said, flashing a smile. She turned to walk away, and then stopped again. Turning around, she said, "You might want to shuffle Tobias down to the infirmary. He's kind of rambling and I think he isn't feeling that great."

"We will," Alexis said, fighting back a grin as Tobias squeaked in shock, his jaw inching down a bit.

Kina looked over his face once before asking, "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to keep that face for long or it was going to freeze that way permanently?"

Tobias turned slowly to face her, his mouth closing. "Do you just like getting under my skin like that?" he asked with all seriousness.

"Consider it paybacks for all the head-butting we did when the Fifty-first paid us a visit," Kina said in a slightly stern tone. "On top of that, you no longer can pull the rank card on me. Sometimes I wonder if you ever realized how irritating that got."

"I think I'm realizing that now," Tobias grumbled.

"Excuse me, colonel?" a male voice said from nearby.

They turned to see an army ensign approaching. "Colonel Stanton, Captain Jackson, Chief Thayer wishes to see you right away," he said, looking at them. "Captain Preston, Major Cromwell wants to see you at 1300 hours. General Skye, Chief Thayer requested to see _you_ at 1300 hours as well." He looked at the four of them and then asked, "Any questions?" Being stared at by four officers was usually a little unnerving for a beginner.

"Nope, I'm good. C'mon Captain, we've got time," Kina said, standing up gracefully and gesturing for her friend to follow. "Let's see if Maxwell can obey your orders huh?"

"I don't think so, especially since Stryker is involved," Alexis grumbled as she got up to follow Kina.

Stanton eyed Tobias and then said, "Let's go. We can get you down to the medical ward after we see what Thayer wants."

"I feel _fine_. She just has to be lying!" Tobias whispered as Stanton steered him from the mess by placing a hand on his shoulder. "I just know it!"

"Aliskevicz can't lie that well," Stanton said. "That would be like Starscream proving his turncoat nature and fighting for the Autobots instead. Possible, but very highly unlikely."

She didn't speak again until they reached Thayer's office. Instead of waiting for an invitation, she walked right in, flopped into a desk chair and closed her eyes. She ignored the ' thanks-for-waiting-for-me' look Thayer shot her from his side of the desk. Tobias decided to pace nearby, and she didn't have to be empathetic to sense his anxiety. "You think we're biting off more than we can chew?" he finally asked nervously.

Stanton gave him a 'what-the-hell-do-you-think' look and he raised his hands in surrender. "Forget about the size of the task, we don't even have sufficient forces to bring down the Decepticon leader," she said quietly. "They've been fighting their war for millennia. The longest war in _our_ history lasted three hundred and thirty-five years, and there wasn't even any fighting! Even I'm not sure about that one," she said, toying with a pencil on Thayer's desk.

"Plus, Starscream may have assets of his own here right now, and we wouldn't know it," Tobias added despite the fact that he didn't want to add to the colonel's concerns.

"I don't want Galloway in on the gig," Stanton added as Thayer offered her a drink, which she declined. "He screwed up once, and another error could cost lives."

"He's your friend, remember?" Tobias reminded her. "Also, you've screwed up more than once," he gently added, but shut up when Stanton glared at him.

"Then why didn't he tell me the names of the other potential victims? Does he not trust me anymore? I wasn't going to shoot him when we were at Diego Garcia, I was just going to drive the point home," Stanton snapped, looking flustered at Thayer. "Or am I being a hypocrite, demanding trust from him if no one can trust me?"

Thayer avoided her question. "You need more planners if you're thinking of another operation as well as Johnson's approval," he warned. "That way, we can avoid a repeat of last time. On top of all that, you need to stop and think about what you're doing. You're suggesting that we go after the Decepticons, specifically _Megatron_."

Stanton raised an eyebrow and said, "Didn't it only take a seventeen year old high school kid to take him down the first time?"

"Yeah, after the entire downtown of Mission City was ripped up. Plus he had tons of help," Thayer said, finally sitting down in his chair. Stanton counted to ten in her head, curious as to how and Thayer stood up again once she got to nine.

"NEST is trained and prepared for this sort of thing," Tobias said slowly, but Stanton interrupted him.

"How many fliers? I don't think the Decepticons are going to hang out on the ground long since the air provides not only an escape but a method of attack because of the advantage of height," she said curtly. She put her forehead in her hand and fell silent.

"Um, back to participants. Will Wilson be in too?" Tobias asked.

"No. He almost died last time. Captain Preston, even though she may fight against it, will not participate either. This time, I'm going to take volunteers. See who is crazy enough to go for it," Stanton replied without looking up.

"Then you'll be starting with a limited number of applicants," Thayer warned. "Not everyone knows everything."

"I know. Tobias, I'm not going to say 'I told you so', but," Stanton began patiently.

"_I know_. She must have a goldfish for an ancestor because obviously she had no idea what I was talking about," Tobias snapped crossly. "Now I'm worried because I have no way of contacting Major Lennox or the other three. Sorry ma'am, consider yourself short four personnel, two soldiers and two pilots."

Stanton rolled her eyes when a knock was heard at the office door. "Your first and last mistake was placing trust in Aliskevicz to hold on and remember that sort of information," she shot back as Thayer stood up and went to answer the door.

"I think that part of the personnel can be resolved tonight," Thayer said calmly as he opened the office door and allowed his visitor to enter.

Stanton was on her feet and scowling the moment Simmons came into full view. Tobias immediately backed off for the inevitable confrontation. A nerve twitched in Simmons's jaw before he turned around back to Thayer and said, "I'm sorry sir, but I just remembered a prior obligation…"

"Simmons, sit down," Thayer ordered, and the man reluctantly obeyed as Stanton sank down slowly into her own seat. "Now, before anyone does anything, I think it would be best if the two of you got _over_ your problems, and talked it out like the civilized people you are. That way, we can be sure of no backstabbing, assassination attempts, or any kind of trickery that you may be planning to do to the other. We're risking everything as it is, we don't need your squabbling to wreck it further. Neither of you will participate in the mission until you both apologize and make your peace. After the mission, if it even does go through, you can go back to hating each other if that'll make you happy."

"I'll do that _only_ if we actually decide to go ahead with the plan," Stanton said coolly, ignoring Simmons.

"Simmons, do you still have contact with your old Sector Seven comrades?" Thayer asked, ignoring Stanton's response and focusing instead on Simmons.

"Why?" Simmons asked suspiciously as Stanton perked up in the seat beside him.

"Because this is your chance to redeem yourself. You want it or not?" Thayer asked, sitting down behind his desk. Stanton and Simmons were both facing him now like children in front of the principal receiving a scolding while Tobias hovered behind them like the concerned parent.

"Fine, I'll take it," Simmons said. He hesitated, and then asked, "She'll get her driving and flying privileges revoked before I say anything right?" He ignored Stanton's scowl that was aimed at his back

"No. Pretend she doesn't exist for a few moments. Now, have you or have you not been keeping some form of contact with any former Sector Seven personnel?" Thayer asked.

"There are very few of us left because you've had most of the old Sector Seven personnel arrested all through last year," Simmons snapped.

"Yet for some odd reason, we found a Sector Seven cell in Europe, Major Cromwell leading the pack," Thayer replied, raising an eyebrow. "I'm still waiting for another old Sector Seven group to pop up on another continent."

"You know, early on in NEST, we did run into old Sector Seven guys. No offense sir, but they caused the most trouble after the Decepticons," Tobias volunteered from where he was standing.

"Answer the question Simmons. It was only myself and a few others who wanted you to stay with the government this time around," Thayer snapped, his patience wearing thin even though it was only mid-morning.

"Send me the emails of the other guys," Stanton interrupted, but examined her fingernails when Thayer looked up at her to order her to be quiet.

"Fine. There are three Sector Seven cells that are still active as far as I know," Simmons said, finally relenting. "The first is in Montreal, Canada, the second is in Mission City, Nevada, and the third is in Ushuaia, Argentina. They never received the orders to deactivate, and I would have sent the orders if _someone_ hadn't booted me out of DC before I could," he said, glaring at Stanton towards the end.

"The government already forcefully deactivated the one in Mission City last year. It started out as a hunt for a fugitive, and the fugitive fled back to the base," Thayer said calmly. "Now why is there one in Argentina?"

Simmons looked as though he was on the verge of denying information, but a glance at Stanton's vexed expression seemed to convince him that the truth would be better. "Um, we sort of found, uh, _another_ one of the Transformers by sheer accident in the ice shelves in Antarctica. Since um, Witwicky found NBE-1 in the Arctic, we thought there just might be one in the south too… Colonel, you don't look very happy," Simmons admitted, edging away from Stanton when she narrowed her eyes at him. "We established the base in Argentina because it was easier than setting up something in the Arctic."

"So tell us, do you happen to have one under your bed as well?" Stanton snapped, gripping her armrests as though to get up.

"No!" Simmons shot back.

"Knock it off you two," Thayer cut in, still grumpy about the fight that had pretty much disrupted his once peaceful morning. "Now I'm going to speak with the Autobots this afternoon after I see General Skye about her new assignment. For now however, Stanton, stay away from Simmons and vice versa. Simmons, when I'm there this afternoon, I expect you to be there as well so you can explain this missing Transformer of yours."

"Can I be there?" Stanton asked innocently. When Thayer glared at her, she leaned back and muttered, "Tobias, you're going to be my eyes and ears. Just keep it low-key."

Tobias sighed. He knew better than to get wrapped up in the still-standing hatred between Simmons and Stanton.


	15. Tinderbox

Fifteen

Tinderbox

"I'm not going to lie, I'm worried about you," Kina said as she and Alexis walked through a half-empty hangar. The sun from the outside world was visible through the opened massive doors, and both women could hear the roaring of the jets as various squadrons got their turn to either practice or leave the base for their new base. "You get a little, um, headstrong thinking that you can handle an issue because you've already dealt with it before. This is going to be trickier this time around because you think that Starscream is just hiding when he could have some ulterior motive for hanging around," she added, ducking underneath the F-22 wing.

"Since when does he _not_ have an ulterior motive?" Alexis asked sarcastically. "Besides, he did obey Stanton for a while, so I guess that has to count for something."

"Well, I'm not Stanton, even if she did have some hand in me getting along this far by being an expert teacher," Kina said grimly. "When I made errors in my new squadron, I kept expecting her to show up and bring her wrath down on all of us."

"She kind of mellowed a bit in 2007 during the months leading up to the Mission City attacks. The biggest thing that incurred her wrath in those months was Charlie, and no, no one has gotten him yet," Alexis answered, laughing slightly with Kina at the memory of the fat animal.

"Mission City was scary, just hearing about it," Kina said quietly, looking at her friend. "I thought you had died. I tried calling, but Sasquatch had answered the phone both times and said you were in no position to accept calls. It wasn't until I started getting your letters again that I knew you were okay."

"I was dealing with Starscream maybe a week or two after Mission City. I still don't know why he opted to go with the F-22 pilot charade, just that it involved the Pentagon before he left; he set me up for that," Alexis admitted, fingering the cuff of her sleeve.

Kina made a sound of disapproval, but didn't comment on the subject any further. Instead, she asked, "So why is Starscream hanging around now?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I think that part of the reason he's here is that he's still licking his wounds from Jordan," Alexis said, pausing by a F-22. She cast her eyes down briefly before saying, "Whatever the reason he's here for, he'll have a harder time executing his plan for several reasons. One, Stanton is in the same building, and she's used to his wily ways. Two, I heard that there is a pack of Autobots in the same facility. Believe it or not, it was Ari who forced the Autobots and Decepticons to cooperate with each other the last time, and Ironhide is not going to cooperate again," she added, leaning against the body of the F-22.

"From what I've seen, Ironhide needs a vacation," Kina said. "Somewhere he'll learn to relax and unwind a bit."

"He won't do that here, that's for certain. Starscream is practically next door," Alexis said, letting her head lean against the body of the jet.

"Were you really involved with him at some point?" Kina asked bluntly, glancing at the hangar doors as though she expected Starscream to come through and attack them both at that moment.

"That was before I figured out who he was," Alexis said, wincing at the small lie.

Kina let it slide for now, but Alexis knew that it would be brought back up again. "I want to meet Starscream when he isn't on a rampage," Kina remarked thoughtfully as she stood in front of Alexis.

"He'll be around later to tell me what to do because he's got this arrangement with Major Tegan Cromwell. Even though he's just a lieutenant, Starscream gets to be my superior, and he answers to Cromwell," Alexis said, glancing at Kina. "Kind of like how Sergeant Wilson was the middleman between us and Stanton."

"I'm still not sure that half of our complaints about Wilson's handling of things got through to Stanton. It had been bugging me for a while," Kina said, raising an eyebrow. "What's Wilson been up to lately?"

"I think he left the base. He said he had medical obligations and was more interested in leaving while he could. He may or may not help Stanton with her latest project by sending information from an outside source," Alexis said, looking to meet Kina in the eye.

"Is she planning another operation or something?" Kina asked with a hint of sarcasm. When Alexis nodded, Kina said, "Has she ever thought about retiring and writing fiction novels that center around military operations? She would really make a career out of doing that, and no one would be killed."

"You want to unleash her onto the public? You want to add one more thing to the nightmares that publishers already have?" Alexis asked, a smile threatening to crack her calm expression.

"Good point. Besides the there might be World War Three started between her and the editor," Kina added, grinning now. She leaned on the jet in a similar position to Alexis and said, "At least Thayer keeps her on a leash here so we don't have a third world war in the middle of the Autobot-versus-Decepticons war."

"You could keep her on a leash. You're a general now remember?" Alexis reminded Kina, who nodded grinning.

"That could either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how it all works out," Kina said, rolling her eyes. "She can always decide not to listen to me."

"Then you'll have to bring her back into line. Besides, well, she won't mind working with you, especially since you've worked together before," Alexis suggested.

"You've got a point there," Kina said thoughtfully. Then she added, "Back to Starscream. I'm still worried about how this is going to turn out. I mean, not all of us can be as blissfully dumb as Ari."

"Actually, I was going to introduce her to the real Stryker Davis tomorrow morning," Alexis replied, glancing at Kina. "Got an excuse for her all worked out too," she added as a man wearing the insignia of an Airman Basic cautiously approached him. Judging from the man's attitude, Alexis guessed that he'd been the unlucky man to draw the short straw when it came to speaking to the superior officer.

"General Skye?" he asked, catching Kina's attention. She looked up at him with a faint polite smile, signaling him to go ahead with his message. After glancing at Alexis, he straightened up and reported, "There's a fight currently in progress next door between Lieutenant Maxwell and Davis. Major Cromwell was already notified via email, but he has yet to respond. A superior officer is needed to calm everyone down because the lieutenants are the two highest-ranked officers present!"

"Well, it looks like Ari is getting her fight anyway," Kina said wearily as she stood up. "Where is she?" she asked.

"I don't know; she wandered off somewhere after breakfast. Let me try calling her," Alexis said, pulling out her phone and dialing Ari as she hurried after Kina. To her irritation, she was sent to voicemail after a few rings. Oh well, it was Ari's fault she wasn't around to catch this.

Unless she was already at the scene of the crime.

When the pair of them got there, Starscream and Tyrone were both circulating each other like a pair of territorial hawks sizing each other up for the second round. Personnel weren't even pretending that they were ignoring the confrontation. At least there wasn't a thick crowd so that Kina and Alexis didn't have to pry people off to the side to get out of the way. They had a good view from where they were standing, and Alexis could tell that Starscream had been banged up pretty well. Tyrone's back was to her so she couldn't see his injuries.

But Ari was nowhere to be seen.

"That's Cromwell," Alexis said suddenly as Major Cromwell stormed into the hangar, clearly furious as he strode forward towards the two pilots who were locked in their fight. Despite the fact that Kina and Alexis had had a head start on him, he made it to the fighters faster, scattering the numerous spectators in the process. He walked right up to Starscream and Tyrone, and then reached right into the fight as though to grab someone's collar and pull them away. Whatever his intentions had been, they were thwarted when Starscream or Tyrone, Alexis couldn't tell which, delivered a good punch to the face. She flinched at the unusually loud _thwack_ and silently gasped as Cromwell's head snapped back. He reeled back from the fight, clutching his face in pain.

Finally, Tyrone got two good handfuls of Starscream's shirt, and _hauled_ Starscream to the ground by putting all his strength and effort into a shove. Then he hunched down as though preparing for a lunge.

_Pchoww!_

Everyone and everything, even the fight, stopped dead at the gunshot. Alexis slowly looked at Kina, and then looked up at the hole in the hangar ceiling. "Now Chief Thayer is going to ask you if that was really necessary," she finally said, eyeing the still-smoking gun as Kina lowered it.

"If it worked for Stanton, then it can work for me," Kina replied, and then walked forward towards them with a purposeful stride. "This is embarrassing behavior for an elite forces," she said in a cold tone, looking down at Starscream and up at Tyrone. As Alexis carefully walked up behind her friend, she could see that neither man escaped uninjured. Starscream had a few bruises and cuts on his face and arms while Tyrone was rubbing his head with no visible injuries. Both men seemed surprised to see that their opponent was still alive, in one piece, and that Tyrone was still standing while Starscream was on the ground.

"All right, _lieutenants,_ this is where it's really going to be bad," Kina warned. "Both of you will face consequences for assaulting a superior officer _and _for starting this ruckus. Lieutenant Davis, you are hereby stripped of any special power you may have had until further notice. Lieutenant Maxwell, you are subjected to the form of discipline that the highest officer, Chief of Staff Thayer, sees fit."

"Whatever I say goes too," Cromwell growled, his voice muffled by the hand covering his nose. Already crimson blood was seeping through his fingers, and Alexis could only imagine the damage his nose must have suffered. Even Kina looked slightly taken aback at the sight.

"Heh, well, you're going to the doctor first before we do anything," she said after a moment of awkward silence. "Will you be needing assistance?"

"_Please,_" Cromwell growled, and Alexis was surprised to see Rose Connelly step forward from the knot of spectators come forward to assist him. She glanced briefly at Alexis, and both women discreetly acknowledged each other. Cromwell muttered something incoherent before allowing himself to be led away.

"May I go to the medical facility as well?"Starscream asked, catching Alexis off guard.

"In a few minutes," Kina replied, and then whispered to Alexis, "If that's Starscream, why does he have to go to the med wing besides maintaining appearances?"

Alexis shrugged. "We did just say that he had to have some ulterior motive for doing things," she reminded Kina.

"You can go to the med wing only after Cromwell leaves, and you don't start anything," Kina snapped to Starscream, who scrambled to his feet and more or less darted out of there. "Not much of a favorable first impression," she remarked as Tyrone escaped into the dissipating crowd. "Can't wait to give him further orders."

"Depends. Who is your subordinate?" Alexis asked.

"Well, Chief Thayer was supposed to tell me earlier this afternoon, but something unexpectedly came up, so he'll be seeing me tomorrow after breakfast around 1000 hours," Kina replied, pressing her lips into a thin line.

"Who knows, maybe you'll get what you want," Alexis said, shrugging. Too bad Ari wasn't around, she was going to be furious about missing this later. Two people who had aggravated her the most knocking around.

* * *

No one took much notice of the scruffy person walking down the street in the early evening hours, a Baltimore Orioles cap pulled low over the face, a pair of jeans with a hole in the knee and faded pink stains on the back of one leg, an old University of Iowa sweatshirt, completed with a pair of faded white sneakers and pink cotton gloves. The person had jammed the hands into the respective pockets, and was keeping their head ducked down as though to avoid eye contact with the other pedestrians, which only made them more edgy about the mystery walker.

At one of the small cafes on that particular road, the bouncer frowned when he saw the scruffy-looking teen walking up. He was so _sick_ of underage kids sneaking into the place. Six times already he'd thrown out a couple of kids trying to have an early night on the town, and twice he'd had to call the cops to scare them off.

"Come on buddy, another night maybe," he said, taking the kid's sweatshirt collar and prepared to physically haul the idiot off. He froze however when he felt a familiar gun barrel pressed against his gut.

"Put me down Tubby, and let me pull out my ID," the 'kid' grunted crossly. Surprised and ready to call the cops in case of a shooting match, the bouncer kept his cell phone handy as the adult woman, she'd pulled her hat up so she could see, ruffled around in her jean pockets. "Eh, here you go," she said, forking over an ID card. "As you can see by the notation at the bottom, I am perfectly licensed to carry a small firearm on my person," she said as he studied the military ID card.

"Yeah, well, it also says here you were in the hospital for mental reasons," the bouncer said, studying the smaller notation beside the one about the firearm.

"Seriously?" the woman – Arianna A. Aliskevicz as it said on her card – asked, snatching the card back and studying it closely. "No way…it's about three years old. I had wondered why that guy in Austin wouldn't let me in. Wow, suddenly a ton of things make sense now," she said, turning the card ninety degrees as though that would make it clearer for her to read. "Anyway, excuse me. As you can see, I am obviously older than eighteen. Now move it buster."

"Our maturity age is twenty-one," the bouncer snapped.

"Move it or I'll call in the cavalry," Ari retorted, pulling out her cell phone and hovering her finger over the '3' as though to speed-dial her backup, and, after what had just happened between them, the bouncer wasn't ready for more people like her.

"Go in," the bouncer snapped, not really in the mood to deal with young adults who thought they were such hotshots because of their connections.

"Wonder what his problem is," Ari muttered to herself as she entered, pulling the Orioles cap off and looking around the place. The bar had been cleaned since her last visit. She tucked her cell phone away, all the while wondering what would have happened if the bouncer had realized that '3' was actually the speed dial to her favorite pizza place. The pizza delivery guys could be quite ferocious when they put their minds to it.

"Yo, Ari! Usual? You're early kid, it's almost seven! Usually you're here 'round much later," Ryan, the bartender shouted as he wiped down the counter. Ari was a regular here, and people were used to seeing her around when she was on leave in DC. He grinned when she sat down at the counter, pulling her baseball cap off. "Tough time getting in?" he asked, deciding that he probably should have warned the new bouncer about her before she'd showed up.

"Nope, new guy?" she asked, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder at the bouncer.

"Yep. Started the day after your last visit," Ryan said as he went about getting her favorite drink. "So, any new news about your best friend and her two guys?" he asked hopefully as he topped off the drink and passed the glass across the countertop to her.

Oh, right. She'd been keeping Ryan and some of his friends posted on the three people in her life who were serving as the most entertainment in her life at the moment. "Yeah… there's a lot to talk about _that,_" she replied slowly as the guilt that had been stewing in her gut for the last couple days suddenly surged up. She wasn't going to be talking long before confessing, so she might as well cut to the chase. "Um, Ryan? About that…"

"Did it stop? Who won? There are a few patrons who are enjoying the betting on this," Ryan replied, leaning down on an elbow on the counter.

Ari let out a sigh between her teeth while tapping four fingers impatiently against the counter. "Actually Ryan, while you and I and maybe a few others have been getting a few laughs out that, I have a sort of confession to make…" she said slowly, and Ryan leaned down closer to hear her. "I've been hedging the bets in Stryker's favor a bit because I've, um, sort of been gimmicking a few things lately that turned against Tyrone. I feel wicked bad about it, especially because one, Alexis seemed to be happy with Tyrone and two, I, uh, almost killed someone the other day," Ari confessed, burying her head in her arms.

"How did you do that?" Ryan asked, slightly surprised. Ari wasn't in combat right now, and as far as he knew, she would never kill anyone unless they were trying to kill her first.

"Trust and communication are the most important things in a relationship and in combat," Ari said mournfully while staring at her glass. "My friend had her flight exercise the other day. I sat in the audio booth, where the CO usually sits during training and I had on the headphones and mike so that I could talk to her whenever I felt like it. She told her lieutenant to go right, I blocked the link and pretended to be her and told him to go left. I thought a little thing like that might make a speed bump for them. I didn't know that another pilot was coming up at the same time because he did that on his own initiative. No one died, but the other pilot got a little banged up. Then finally, my friend's job is on the line because of all that."

"That sounds like it was wicked close, I hope you learned something from that," Ryan said in a stern tone.

"Yeah, I learned that I'm being selfish, I feel insanely guilty now _and_ I could get arrested for all this," Ari muttered, avoiding eye contact with Ryan. "I honestly don't know why, but I just don't like Tyrone!" she said, looking up at him pitifully. "Alexis could also be losing her position!"

"Let me guess. When it came to accusations, you sided with your friend," Ryan said.

"Duh. I really did hear her say 'right'," Ari replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Anything else you want to get on the table?" Ryan asked wryly.

"Yeah. I told Stryker how to get his boss in charge of Alexis's squadron, and then I food-poisoned an army major. Not my proudest moment," Ari added sadly. "Plus I lied to Tobias Jackson. I guess that was worth it though because his expression was priceless."

"Why did you lie to him?" Ryan asked as he dried a few glasses with a rag.

"Because there's this psycho-maniac on the loose and I don't know what kind of disguise the guy's got," Ari replied, sipping her drink a little. Ryan _almost_ panicked at the 'psycho-maniac' part until he remembered that Ari's definitions of crazy were extremely different from the dictionary definitions.

"Ari, I don't know what to say to that," Ryan said bluntly. "Ever think about just pulling out of this tangle and letting events play themselves out?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I hate being a spectator!" Ari whined.

"Didn't seem that way to me the last time we saw each other," a male voice asked right by her.

"_Acck!_" Ari screeched in surprise, dropping her glass in the process. Ryan laughed as Ari turned to find Sergeant Robert Epps standing there, grinning broadly. "What is it with guys constantly sneaking up to me?" she demanded to Ryan, who could only shrug helplessly because he was still laughing.

"You had me worried there for a minute Aliskevicz, when you called to say you wanted to meet in a bar of all places, and then I heard you claim you hate being a spectator," Epps said, leaning against the counter. "What's up?"

Ari narrowed her eyes at him. "Did you just miss that whole rant?" she demanded.

"Tough week, got it," Epps said, scratching the side of his head. Ari noticed that he was wearing inconspicuous civilian clothing for once, not the distinctive NEST armor. "Now come on kid. We agreed to rendezvous here, not chat." He stood up and left, his hand catching her shirt collar on the way.

"Put that on my tab," Ari said before she shuffled out after him. She wiggled out of his grip as they left the bar, and was careful to flash a rude hand gesture so that the bouncer could see. "So," she said conversationally, loud enough so that the bouncer's curse went unheard. "What is new with you?" she asked, keeping pace with him.

"Um, okay I guess. We hit a bit of a snag, so half our team is gone," he said, glancing at her.

"You're kidding right? I just told Toby that I didn't know where you guys were," Ari said, walking beside Epps to a discreet vehicle. She paused, and then said, "I guess I was half-telling the truth."

"Yeah, lucky for you, kid," Epps replied affectionately as they walked down the car. Ari came to a dead stop however when she recognized Sideswipe's alternate mode. Sensing her hesitation, Epps muttered something incoherently and then said, "Come on Aliskevicz, I'm not in the mood for stunts like this. It's not Sideswipe, okay? It's just a look-alike, because Sides has a darker shade of silver." He looked past Ari's shoulder and then called, "It's okay Timmons! Found her oozing around inside the bar!"

Ari wiggled around to turn her head over her shoulder to find one of the two missing NEST special ops pilots, Erin Timmons, walking carefully down the slight hill from across the empty street. The young woman was wearing a green sweater, a long-sleeved shirt and jeans all for warding off the autumn chill. The only hint of any ties she might have had with NEST was the thin chain around her neck that was generally reserved for military ID tags, but there was a small pink heart-shaped charm in tags' place this time. She offered a small smile to Ari, who yanked on the shirt collar to indicate that she was still stuck.

"Please tell me you guys know what happened to the other half of the team. Jackson is going to have my head on a silver platter if he finds out that not only I lied, but half of the team really is missing and I failed in whatever duty he gave me… _will you let me go already?_" she half-shrieked when she realized that Epps still had a grip her shirt collar.

"I'm beginning to remember why it was so quiet at Diego Garcia once you left," Epps said, letting her go and rubbing his ear. He remembered the wildly fluctuating noise levels at Diego Garcia when Ari had been dragged there for the first time.

"Major Lennox caught wind of some talk around here about Sector Seven, and thought that there was something worth investigating. Epps didn't want him to go alone, so Jade Rivers went with him," Erin quietly explained, mentally preparing herself for the next question she knew was coming. Ari was just that predictable.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're withholding information?" Ari asked suspiciously, looking between them.

"Lennox wasn't sure if the information was valid, so he wasn't specific with us either," Erin replied, brushing a strand of her strawberry-blond hair back from her face. No need to mention that The wind had loosened some strands from her ponytail, and Erin was planning to fix it once they got out of the wind.

"When you get into contact with him again, tell him to head over to Andrews. From what I heard, there was a little skirmish at Diego Garcia with Starscream that ended with the Autobots taking refuge in the capital," Ari said, trying not to let the importance of the mission get to her head.

"Any certain VIP casualties?" Epps asked conversationally while Erin scowled at him.

"Eh, you're out of luck there, but if it's any comfort, Colonel Stanton is wary of him now," Ari replied, shrugging. "Now listen, if you're going to sneak into the base, Epps, you can probably blend in among the few army soldiers still there. Erin, all you need is a USAF uniform… I think we're the same size, so you can borrow one of mine. The place is crawling with Air Force personnel, so I think we can get away with it for a while," Ari said, deciding that she could always discreetly raid Alexis's closet if she needed anything else.

"Commanding officers don't count and keep track of their pilots?" Erin asked as Epps opened the car door behind the two women. "My former commanding officer was very careful about that," she added.

"I don't know. I'm never around _that_ much to tell," Ari replied as she slipped into the backseat, Erin close behind her.

"Why is Stanton still hanging around?" Epps asked grumpily as he got into the driver's seat. "Hasn't she heard of retirement or something? She's getting to that age," he added as he started the car, restraining the urge to snap at Ari to stop staring at the key and the ignition. He told her it was a normal car, why wouldn't she believe him for once?

"I don't mind, I actually want to meet her and see what the fuss is about," Erin said, leaning back in the seat while hugging herself to conserve body heat. It was cold in the car because Epps had yet to power up the heater albeit on low power.

"Let me put it this way. Stanton makes Ari look extremely harmless," Epps said grimly as he pulled away from the curb and headed towards Andrews, intent on rejoining the rest of his comrades.

"I can make myself less harmless than her," Ari said, sounding somewhat wounded.

"I think that we all prefer that you remain this way," Erin said, pulling Ari back into a proper seating position. "One is bad enough, two is a handful."

"I think you guys should know, but Starscream set up camp just several hundred feet from where the Autobots are," Ari added, wincing when Epps faked slamming his head on the steering wheel. Erin just pinched the bridge of her nose, as though to refrain from saying or doing anything at that moment. "I saw him, then later pulled some of his wiring out so he couldn't hunt me down. Just don't ask Lieutenant Stryker Davis for any help though, the idiot is extremely unhelpful and likes dishing the dirt instead of Decepticon-mischief-proofing the place," Ari added.

"I don't even think that it's possible to make a place impervious to Decepticon mischief," Epps muttered, but the two women heard him anyway. "The Autobots will want to know about that."

A buzzing sound from Ari's pocket caught her attention. Ari flipped it out, first noted that she had missed a call from Alexis earlier that morning, and then studied the text message from Alexis. It said:

**Just 2 warn U, but Capt. Mareski said there's going 2 b a physical 2morrow morning, and wants U 2 meet him & the others in Hangar 21B. He said 2 b there 0700 sharp.**

"Huh. Maybe I should have warned Mareski about the Decepticon in there," Ari remarked as she shut her phone again. "Get this, we can plan an ambush. I'm supposed to meet my captain in the same hangar that I know Screamer's hiding out in, so we'll all surround the place, and when someone gives a hidden signal, we'll all jump him, and then…"

"Aliskevicz, an ambush isn't something that we can plan on the fly… sort of," Epps interrupted. "This isn't like a book where the author has an endless amount of time to plan the confrontation scene. Starscream will soon begin to feel boxed in by all these enemies around him, and that's when he's the most dangerous. We should be wary of that, and remind Alexis too."

"What does she have to do with Starscream?" Ari asked, suddenly curious. But to her chagrin, Epps didn't answer her question, and Erin refused to help Ari bug him for the information.

-------------

A/N: The character of Erin Timmons belongs to Strawberrytop007 and requires her permission for the character to be used elsewhere. The character of Jade Rivers belongs to Icarian Angel Wings, and requires her permission for the character to be used elsewhere. See you all again next time! :)


	16. Backfire

Sixteen

Backfire

It was now six or so in the morning. Alexis had woken up in the middle of the night in the midst of a faceless nightmare, with images of faceless entity lying in the hospital wing slowly dying plaguing her mind. Worried about Tyrone's safety, she had headed down to the men's barracks while disguised as custodian only to find that he was safe and sound; Starscream hadn't come to murder him during the night. Then she'd gone back to her room to catch a little more sleep, only to wake up a few hours later

Starscream losing in yesterday's tussle was also another mystery. Had he allowed his defeat to deflect suspicion from himself? What was he up to anyway? Did he even know that the Autobots were very close by?

It was times like these where Alexis wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake him until he gave her what she wanted to know.

Ari had reappeared right after dinner, and both Kina and Alexis had been privately concerned. Forget about missing the fight, but she'd missed lunch _and_ dinner at the mess. In all the years Alexis had known her, missing mess hall meals was taboo in Ari's book because it was prime gossip time for her. Even the excuse that she'd been with the Autobots during dinner hadn't eased Alexis's worry. The only normal thing about Ari's reappearance had been her extreme disappointment in missing the fight between Starscream and Tyrone.

Shaking her head in irritation, Alexis slipped out of her quarters for the second time that morning, wearing civilian clothing this time. There was no one around at this hour to critique her clothing, no one important at least. The staff preparing breakfast in the kitchens could care less what she was wearing. The plan was to get food, then go to the hangars.

She was on her way to the kitchen when she heard Starscream's scratchy voice down the hall. "The terms haven't been fulfilled, madam," he was saying irritably. "We are not bound to honor any kind of agreement unless _all _terms have been completed." A peek around the corner revealed his hologram with crossed arms and a cranky expression on his face.

For someone who sneaked around behind his master's back, he was pretty loud.

At least his compatriot knew how to be quiet. Alexis didn't hear what the woman said, but she saw Starscream narrow his eyes as though contemplating murder. Finally he said, "There will be no more discussion on this," and then walked towards the hangars, disappearing from view altogether. Alexis waited a bit for his compatriot to show up, but the woman never did.

She rolled her eyes and then abandoned the coffee venture to talk to him in privacy. Then she could get the coffee, and maintain the lack-of-sleep-and-stressed-out excuse if she lost her temper with him. She wondered what Ari was doing out of bed this early, then decided that Ari had made the error of making a deal with Starscream and was now attempting to re-negotiate terms with him.

Good luck with that.

"Starscream?" she asked cautiously, poking her head into the silent hangar. Experience reminded her to keep all exits clear and accessible… in other words, try to avoid being boxed in by a giant alien flier. "Starscream, I know you're in here," she said in a faux cross tone, walking into the cavernous room in an attempt to draw him out. She knew he was in here; she felt as though she was being closely watched as she strode into the middle of the hangars. "Damn it Starscream, I saw you just a few minutes talking to that woman," Alexis snapped, hoping he wouldn't call her out on her bluff. She didn't know for sure if it was Ari he was talking to, but pretended otherwise.

"Are you jealous or something?" Starscream asked, his hologram appearing at her shoulder. He smirked when she jumped in surprise. She whirled around to confront him, remembering how well they'd parted last time. "I'm surprised you had the bravery to come here after deliberately disobeying me two days ago," he added, calmly stepping forward towards her. She unconsciously backed up, hating the fact that she knew she was walking into a boxed corner.

"No Starscream, I am not jealous. I happen to be one of those rare humans who are not going to jump up at your beck and call," she calmly informed him, daring to stop in her tracks so that he walked up right to her, closing the distance between them.

He turned his head sideways as though to study her better. "I've forgotten what a maddening human you can be when you put your mind to it," he finally said, lifting her chin so that they made eye contact. He straightened but maintained eye contact, and Alexis could only wonder what was going through his brain at that moment.

Knowing now what it felt like to be under a microscope, Alexis jerked her chin from his grip and took two steps back. Her timing was now a little out of whack; she had to find a way to provoke him and then stall him for about an hour, all the while hoping he wouldn't catch onto her real intent. "Yeah, well, for the record, I didn't tell Ari anything in the end," she said casually, brushing her hair back. There was no way she could disguise the fact that her heart was now painfully loud in her own ears, and Starscream would have no difficulty sensing the increased heartbeat.

"I do not trust you enough to believe that you haven't done anything to bring Arianna's attention to me. She would not believe you anyway. I do not feel threatened by her at all. She would rather believe the jaded version of the life that is presented to her than face the ugly reality of if all. You are all like that," Starscream said coldly as he approached her, and she began to back away from him. Provoking him wasn't going to be difficult at all, seeing that he was still steaming over the last time they had spoken and from whatever argument he'd had with Ari from before. The stalling was going to be the hard part.

'_Remember, you're the one getting hurt here, not Ari,'_ Alexis reminded herself as she kept backing away from Starscream's approach. '_He won't kill you, there's always something holding him back… unless there isn't anything anymore. Wait, there's Kina. Starscream may not know that, but he'll figure it out too late once Kina rats him out because I died.' _Kina was going to have her hide for going ahead with this plan despite all warnings not to. "Give me space and stop coming closer, _lieutenant_," she ordered, struggling to refrain the panicky sounds in her voice.

"When was the last time I obeyed an order because a higher power?" Starscream sneered, and then frowned as though remembering something important. Before Alexis could reply, he scowled and quickly added, "That's a rhetorical question, meaning you _don't_ answer it. As for you," he said, turning back to her, "I don't follow _anyone's_ orders except my own!"

"I know what a rhetorical question is!" she shot back indignantly, wondering why the hell he had said that. "As for your answer to your 'rhetorical question', the last time you followed orders because of a higher power would probably be, oh, I don't know, _never?_ Your lack of respect for others than yourself needed an explanation anyway," she snapped. "Maybe you're not as smart as I thought you were..."

Starscream stopped dead in his tracks, his face betraying the depth of the insult. He stood there, fists clenched at his sides, taking deep breaths, and Alexis swore that she heard a faint snickering somewhere. It wasn't just her though, because Starscream half-turned and snarled, "You… will… shut… up if you want to leave here alive."

"Talking to ourselves now? Maybe you're just not your best anymore Screamer, and you're beginning to crack because _Megatron_ is actually a problem, and there's another reason you're hiding from him," Alexis snapped, pushing his temper as hard as she could. "I'd like to meet him and see what the big deal is," she said, knowing very well that she was lying through her teeth now. She wanted nothing to do with Megatron… the few eyewitness accounts were scary enough. "I'm not scared of you anymore. It will take a lot from you to frighten me now," she said, mustering up all her strength to continue through with this charade. "You're in second place now, Starscream. Accept that. You're not my boss anymore, and never will be. Now excuse me, I have to see if Tyrone is feeling all right from when you pummeled him yesterday. What I came here for can wait," she said, and began to confidently walk towards him.

His hologram snapped out of existence, and Alexis stopped dead to brace her body for his real form. A split second later however, his hologram reappeared right in front of her, his hand clasping tightly around her throat. She didn't even have a chance to cry out as he slammed her against the hangar wall. "Never question my power or authority. You obeyed me once before, and deal or no deal, you are definitely going to do it again," Starscream hissed quietly in her ear, pinning her against the wall with one hand.

"You can't make me," she whispered back in a matter-of-fact tone once he loosened his grip on her throat so she could speak coherently. "I'm not going to let you use me again. I nearly got arrested last time," she told him with a raised eyebrow.

"I hope you're not going to make me hurt someone you love," Starscream hissed softly, his cold breath against her ear. "I really hate having to go through all that difficulty to put a second person on the line just so that you can cooperate. It wastes everybody's time plus it's an insult to my abilities."

"Oh, poor you," Alexis hissed back. "When everyone hears about how you're choosing to waste your abilities to threaten meaningless humans, they'll all feel bad for you," she snarled, rolling her eyes for effect. "Besides, you know I wouldn't be this stupid unless I had a general to back me up," she added.

Starscream paused as though recalling something. "I never said I didn't already have someone, a little piece of collateral that you might be interested in," he warned.

Alexis snorted, catching him by surprise. "Save me for last so I can see how that will turn out," she said, remembering the Autobots. She tried not to show her reaction at the fact that Starscream had collateral of some kind; to do so would be giving him a measure of power, and that was not something she could afford to give him.

Starscream narrowed his eyes. "What do you know?" he snarled softly as his hand constricted around her throat again.

Instead of answering, Alexis kicked him as hard as she could. It wasn't easy, seeing that she was still somewhat captured. But he couldn't hold her throat and still be translucent to avoid the injury. Swearing, he recoiled, releasing her throat and letting her fall to the ground. She scrambled to her feet, and, ignoring the pain in her throat, watched as Starscream retreated, rubbing his head. She only started running when his hologram vanished.

He didn't transform. He just waited until she was in the right position and then he pounced on her back, sending both of them to the ground. Starscream took both her wrists as she was recovering from the pounce and twisted them so that any pressure applied would instigate pain.

"Move and I'll snap something," Starscream snarled as the door to the base opened.

"Wouldn't that be risky if she died?" a familiar male voice asked from the door. Alexis stiffened, and managed to slowly raise her head so she was at an angle to see who had spoken. She felt her heart break when she recognized Tyrone Maxwell standing in the hangar doorway, leaning against the door frame and studying her and Starscream in a critical manner. He didn't seem at all afraid of Starscream's presence, if anything, he looked bored.

"Tyrone! Get out of here and get Kina!" Alexis managed to say in what breaths she managed to get out. "Or Stanton! Just hurry and don't let him catch you!" She stared as Tyrone watched her, unmoving. "Is any of this getting through to you?" she demanded after a moment of silence.

He didn't seem to hear her. "What happens if you apply more pressure?" he asked curiously as he cautiously stepped forward.

"More pain for them," Starscream snapped grumpily as he lowered his hands and applied more pressure to her elbows. Alexis gritted her teeth to cheat him out of hearing pain. "You have to be careful though, it always gets messy when their joints break. They carry grudges for a long time."

"They're also kind of dumb," Tyrone added, and Alexis couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was he _possessed_ or something?

"No, you've just done an unusually good job. Better than I thought possible," Starscream replied, applying another measure of pressure when he felt her struggling. "Except, you should've let me win yesterday. As far as the captain here knew, I was stronger than you."

"Tyrone…" Alexis began angrily, but Starscream covered her mouth to cut off her order. Furious, she bit down on his palm, which elicited a roar of anger from him.

"Hey guys… holy crap what's going on?" Ari asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway, wearing her pilot's gear. She looked from Tyrone, to Starscream, to Alexis, back to Tyrone, and then to Alexis again. "Why do I walk in at the most inopportune moments?" she asked Alexis, who struggled a bit more.

"Get Kina and report _both _of them in!" Alexis snapped in the few seconds that Starscream unwittingly released her mouth. She then took advantage of his hesitation to jab him in the chest with her elbow, causing him to unexpectedly release her.

Ari on the other hand was distracted by Tyrone's sudden jump for her, as though he was going to stop her from fulfilling Alexis's orders. She danced out of his reach while saying, "Hey, take it easy Maxwell! Are you still mad when I fell on you or something?" She jumped back as Tyrone lunged, and then ran past him to Alexis. Starscream rose to meet her, and the pair of them collided. Alexis scrambled to her feet as Ari made a swipe at Starscream, only to shriek when her hand went through where his head should have been. Then she yelped again when the hologram vanished completely into thin air.

Alexis turned around to yell at Tyrone for his idiocy and to go get _someone_, and felt her body freeze when Tyrone suddenly vanished into thin air as well, leaving no trace behind.

He was a hologram too.

Alexis tried _not_ to think of the implications of that discovery as Ari struggled to bring her hyperventilating under control. "Ghosts… ghosts… please for the sake of my sanity that they were ghosts and not what I think they are," Ari whispered as Alexis pulled her to her feet. Both women pressed their backs together before Ari said, "Is hiding useless here?"

"I hate to break it to you Ari, but I think that they are what you think they are," Alexis muttered as she looked at the two F-22s in the hangar. If the Cybertronians transformed, which was probably was going to happen, there would be plenty of room for them to manuever. She tugged on Ari's sleeve and said, "We should either hide or escape…"

"Hide!" Ari squeaked as both women heard the familiar sound of gears moving. Alexis ignored the ache in her limbs as both women backed away from the jets so that they were in the safety of old storage containers. "Remind me to find Major Lennox and ask him to draw out a diagram so that I can get everyone and their frigging motives straight," Ari muttered as she settled down next to Alexis.

"Try not to confuse yourself further please," Alexis muttered back as there was a loud clanging sound behind them, followed by a stream of bleeps and electronic sounds. "I think you gimmicked Screamer to the point where he can't transform," she whispered as they both heard human footsteps and metallic laughter from Starscream's companion.

"I still can't believe that Stryker _and_ Tyrone were fakes," Ari whimpered. "More to the point, I can't believe that you _kissed_ both of them at some point."

"Will you shut up already? They can _both_ hear us," Alexis hissed, still hurting over Tyrone's revelation.

Ari nodded, and then fell silent. For about a minute tops. "Do you think they're up for negotiations?" she whispered.

"Nope," Alexis muttered as a great shadow fell over them. "I think that now is the time where we run…"

"Running means exercise," Ari said in an agreeable tone. She and Alexis glanced at each other, and then both women dove for their respective sides just as a clawed hand came down and crashed into the ground. "And exercise is good for you, so I guess it's a good thing that we have a homicidal robot in here… in a weird and twisted sort of way," Ari continued, dodging the next grab. "For the record, I'm going to start the screaming _after_ my life isn't on the line…"

A grinding of gears distracted Alexis, and she saw that contrary to her assumption, Starscream wasn't as out of commission as she'd thought. She may have not seen his natural form in two years, but she knew that he was _angry_. His arm was at an odd angle, but that didn't stop his rampage for the pair of them. His comrade however was attempting to trap Ari, who had opted to do zigzags to avoid getting caught. Then she looked back at Starscream, and accidentally moved into his range just as he swiped at her, catching her around the middle.

There was a short shriek from Ari as Alexis was sent flying across the floor, crashing against the locked door on the other end. Dazed, she looked up at Ari, expecting to see that she too was caught, but Ari had just been reacting from Alexis's crash. Starscream was snarling something in his language; Alexis could see that he was having difficulty with his mobility.

"I got him good, didn't I?" Ari asked in a strained cheery voice after she'd darted to Alexis's side. "How, the hell, do you stay calm through all this?"

"I'm used to it… plus I had a bit of a warm-up before you showed," Alexis said, breathing hard as she fought to bring her heart rate under control again. "You're handling this better than I thought you would," she added, frowning while she studied Ari's expression.

Ari managed a shaky smile. "I… just dismantled Starscream two days ago," she said, her voice wavering slightly. "Wait until the adrenaline dies down… I'm too scared to scream right now. Besides, I've faced a wacky Decepticon before… London remember?" she whispered as Starscream shakily returned to his jet form behind her. "Crap, what are they doing now… _acck he's right there!"_ she screeched once she realized that Starscream's companion was sneaking up right behind them.

Alexis yelped as claws shot forward and wrapped around the both of them, swiftly closing the gap and caused both women to smack heads with each other. It didn't help that they were both crammed inside the dark interior of the Decepticon's fist

"Ari, anyone tell you that you have a thick head?" Alexis managed to wheeze out.

"Maybe. I think my high school English teacher did once," Ari managed to say back.

"Drop them. They won't be a problem now, and you'll only hurt them if you handle them like that. Besides, Stanton will be coming around soon, and she does not fear reprimanding or reporting us," they heard Starscream order, and the other Cybertronian promptly let go. Ari managed to wiggle away so that they wouldn't _completely _land on each other, but it still hurt when they landed. Before they could scramble away, Starscream had them both trapped; he had snatched Alexis's wrist and Ari's ankle while the unknown Decepticon stationed himself in front of the door. Alexis knew that since they were both immobilized, they were running out of options other than listening fast.

"Too bad you can't cover both your ears; this might hurt a bit," Ari said, and Starscream's attention flickered to her, suspicious yet unable to move in time. Ari took in a deep breath through her nose, and then screamed, "_Kina!! Stanton!! Toby! Somebody!!!! HEEEELP!"_

Starscream released Alexis's wrist long enough to whack Ari in the head, which caused the screams to stop but the whimpers to begin. Then he turned back to Alexis and snarled, "You _planned_ this didn't you?"

"Not like this," Alexis said defensively. "It would've worked if… _it_," she snapped, gesturing to the other Decepticon, who stiffened in indignation, "hadn't shown up to back you up," she finished, grimacing as Starscream scowled and nearly towered over her in anger. She glanced at Ari's incredulous expression and explained, "I kind of knew he was here… and that he was Starscream. I guess the cat's out of the bag hopefully for good…"

"Wrong," Ari hissed. "Cats are cute and cuddly. _That_," she said, gesturing to the Decepticon, "That is _not_ a cat, trust me."

"Ari, it's a saying…" Alexis began, but Ari cut her off.

"I _know_ it's just a saying! You know, I was hoping that this was some elaborate prank," Ari said, deflating as she tried to pull her ankle out of Starscream's grip. "Won't the Autobots set them straight?" she asked, trying harder to free herself.

"They're still imprisoned," Starscream replied coldly while the other Decepticon snickered. "Sitting ducks as you humans call it."

"Who is your pal, Screamer?" Ari asked curiously, jerking towards the Decepticon with her chin as Alexis finally moved into a sitting position, rubbing her sore wrist.

"You might as well tell because sooner or later, we'll find out," Alexis warned him, and she had no doubt that he was thinking of how she'd hacked into Stanton's computer for the details on his identity.

Starscream spoke in his native language, and the Decepticon first moved off to the side before transforming back into the F-22 guise. Then the hologram of a man other than Tyrone's appearance formed right behind Ari, and she let out a shriek when she realized that he was there. "You scream a lot for one of your species," he observed, moving behind Starscream slightly.

Ari swelled up in indignation, but kept her comments to herself for once in her life. Even though she knew Starscream somewhat well and that she knew what they both were, they were still intimidating when she looked up at them. She glanced at Ari, who was still staring at the pair of them, and then said, "Um, I have an idea." Once Starscream was paying attention, she said, "How about our old agreement? We help you if you help us?"

"Are you nuts?" Ari hissed as an odd expression crossed Starscream's face, as though something wasn't going quite the way he preferred. Alexis however kept eye contact with him, ignoring Ari's facial expressions.

His companion raised an eyebrow at Starscream, and Starscream replied with, "It's worked in the past… that's how I got into their military network."

"At least he admits that he stole your ID," Ari muttered, and once again Alexis ignored her. She continued focusing on Starscream.

"Very well, Captain. We can resume our old arrangement… under one condition," Starscream warned, kneeling down to her level. "You get your general friend to reinstate me back in my position between you and Major Cromwell, and then I suppose we can resume our old arrangements."

"Tell us your pal's name and we'll do that," Ari cut in, smirking.

Starscream offered an equally confident smirk and said, "His name translates to Skywarp in your language. He is just as dangerous as I am."

Ari smiled tightly and offered two thumbs up.

Alexis unsteadily got to her feet, running a hand through her hair. Maybe she should've gotten her coffee first, if this was the turnout. Trying to keep the emotion out of her voice, she cast Starscream a sideways glance and asked in a low voice, "Where is Tyrone? I just saw him."

"Did you see Tyrone, or did you see Skywarp trying out human customs?" Starscream asked in a serious tone. He tilted his head and added, "I said I had collateral remember?"

"Let's go Lexi," Ari said, standing a little ways away from the two holograms. She scowled at Starscream and said, "Our nine o'clock coffee chat is going to be pushed off until two later today because I need time to have breakfast, and then take a nap so I can try to write this off as a nightmare. Bring Scotty with you when you come… I think there's a few things we could fix on his masquerade, such as not being such a goody-two shoes all the time." When Alexis didn't immediately come, Ari muttered something unintelligible and walked over to her friend.

"One more condition. You want your position, you give Tyrone back," Alexis snapped, staying put even as Ari began tugging on her arm.

"Position first, your boyfriend second," Starscream replied, rolling his eyes as though he had better things to do.

Alexis didn't reply, just let Ari tug her away. She didn't look away until after Ari shut the hangar door. Then she faced forward and mentally berated herself for looking away from Tyrone for even just a moment. It had even been that day when they'd had the training accident. He had gone off to find Major Cromwell, then there had been those explosions, but he had come back…

The explosions.

Skywarp must have been careless when transforming, which was reasonable seeing that he'd just arrived. He would have wanted to keep Tyrone quiet, which led to Tyrone's capture. But Cromwell had allegedly been in the hangar at the same time. This had to mean that he was now keeping Skywarp as a secret too on Starscream's order.

_Damn._

"God, I'm going to kill them both," Alexis growled, turning around and began storming towards the hangar again. "No, scratch that. I'm going to kill them both, and then kill Cromwell."

"Hang on!" Ari yelped, catching her friend's collar. "You were already stupid enough to make a damn deal with them, don't make it worse!" she snapped, pulling Alexis back. "You know he's only going to double-cross us, so why did you do it?" she demanded as she resumed typing something out on her phone.

"Because we're going to cross him first. I'm not putting up with this. People died the last time I agreed to go through with this," Alexis snapped, still feeling bitter.

"Fine, whatever. Listen, Skywarp is going to be an Internet sensation in a few minutes, so you can use that as a bit of immediate paybacks," Ari said, pressing the 'SEND' button on her cell phone. At Alexis's puzzled glance, she said, "Warp is apparently purple, because when he went back into F-22 mode, he forgot to change his color to silver. So I snapped a shot with my phone, set it up in the outbox, wrote a neat little caption, and sent it off. My brother Jeff has an Apple iPhone that Mom got him last year for Christmas, so he'll get it. I addressed the photo to my sister-in-law, so Jeff will probably let her put it up on Facebook or something like that. Then, _bam!_ Warp becomes famous overnight. I mean, who has ever seen a purple F-22 before?" She looked at Alexis. "What do you think?" she asked.

"_When_ they find out, Starscream will kill you," Alexis replied, but Ari shrugged.

"Bring him on. I dare him," she said, grinning.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast," Alexis said, rolling her eyes at her friend's daring actions. "Even human evil geniuses need to eat."

"I'm flattered. Besides, we can try to figure out where Screamer is hiding your buddy Maxwell so we can get out of all this cruddy deal-making. Negotiating is not one of my strengths," Ari grumbled as the pair of them walked towards the mess hall in an attempt to catch breakfast before the kitchens closed.

--------------

A/N: The iPhone belongs to Apple, Facebook and all related media belongs to Mark Zuckerberg, the creator (that's correct right?).


	17. Chessboard Positions

Seventeen

Chessboard Positions

"Engines?"

The F-22 Raptor's engines roared to life. Alexis listened carefully before leaning out of the open cockpit and into the noontime sunshine. She had to get lunch soon. Working first with Ari for part of the morning and then with Lucky the second half was wearing down on her mind. "Check!" she shouted. Then she shut the engines off.

"Navigational systems?"

"You really can't test those while unmoving on the ground," Alexis called down, but flipped on the instruments anyway. "Check for now. Wait until we're in the air before testing those."

"Weapons?"

Alexis leaned out of the side again and asked, "You really want me to test those in here surrounded by giant flying fuel tanks?"

Lucky shrugged. Ever since his mishap, he'd lost trust in his own jet. "You can go ahead and test it on Lieutenant Davis's jet," he replied, shrugging while gesturing with his head towards the jet across the hangar. Thayer had ordered for any 'loose' jets to be moved in together, including an unaware Skywarp and an irritated Starscream. "I don't care," Lucky added as he checked off the engine box on his clipboard.

"You will once Davis loses his temper," Alexis muttered as she flipped a switch on the control panels. Static immediately echoed around the hangar, and Alexis muttered a curse as she fiddled with the radio dial again. It had been the radio after all that was the source of the mix-up in the first place. "So I think we just need the radio looked at again," she finally said, shutting the annoying device off.

"I think I need to be looked at," Lucky said mournfully as Alexis shut the cockpit hatch. She turned to see that he was examining his hands, which for the most part had healed but still bore angry scars from the collision.

"Have you been seeing a doctor regularly?" Alexis asked as she walked out onto the nose and opened a panel to examine the inside mechanics of the nose.

Lucky shrugged. "I had an appointment with one of the doctors this morning. Your friend Ari showed up halfway though my appointment, glued to her cell phone and yammering on about something close to her Internet photo stats, whatever that meant," he said, scribbling out a sketch he'd drawn on his checklist.

"Yeah, Ari's really into the Internet nowadays," Alexis muttered, wondering if she should tell Starscream that Skywarp's picture had made it to Facebook. That was a special consideration seeing that Screamer was camped out nearby, but was probably in recharge since she hadn't gotten a peep out of him since that morning.

"Is she on one of those fangled networking sites?" Lucky asked curiously.

Alexis paused for a moment. "I don't know. I hope not," she said, using a tool to readjust some cables. "She already caused problems with a computer, accidentally instigating a cyber war a few years ago with the Central Intelligence Agency. At least Stanton thinks it was the CIA; if it wasn't them, it was another professional hacker," she said, leaning forward to see the problem better. Interestingly enough, she saw that the communication wires were fried.

"It couldn't have been them; they wouldn't have let her live," Alexis heard Lucky reply in a dismissive tone. There were a few moments of silence, and then Lucky said, "No, I don't know where Captain Preston is, Lieutenant Aliskevicz. Have you tried the med wing? I didn't think the captain was looking that great this morning."

She didn't hear Ari's response, but then Lucky caved and quickly said, "She's, uh, not here!"

Alexis felt bad for blatantly blowing Lucky's cover, but she needed to get a move on. "Lucky," she said, straightening again and peering over, "You need your communications fixed. _I_ need the next item on the list," she said, nodding a greeting to Ari and Ari's companion, a young strawberry-blond woman who was also wearing a similar outfit as Ari.

"Can I take a break?" Lucky asked, eyeing Ari warily.

"It's _your_ jet," Alexis reminded him, and he nodded. Lucky tossed the clipboard down in agreement before picking up his jacket. "Same time as tomorrow?" he asked.

"Try to see if there's a technician who'll fix up the communication lines before then," Alexis said, sitting down on the jet's nose and checking her crewman's clothing for any oil stains. Lucky nodded before walking away, careful to keep a distance from Ari.

Ari watched him leave before asking, "Who is that guy?"

"Lucky. Got the worst of the communication mix-up that led to the crash we had a while back," Alexis said, swinging her legs over the edge and dangled them. "Come on up you two, it's not that scary," she added, winking at them. She thought for a moment, and then asked, "Did you have a nice nap?"

Ari rolled her eyes and walked over to the ladder, her friend close behind. Alexis could hear Ari yammering on about something as they climbed up, and she looked up at the pair of them as they approached. "Moving around on F-22s used to be my hobby until I accidentally fell off and sprained my ankle. Of course I lied and told Stanton that it was a drill accident. Then she and Wilson got into this argument that lasted for three days, thirteen hours, twenty-four minutes, and fifty-five seconds," Ari was saying as she approached Alexis.

"If I remember correctly, the only reason you kept the time was because you and Riley had some fifty dollars riding on the outcome," Alexis said, grinning as Ari settled down next to her.

"It was fifty-nine. Idiot wouldn't contribute one more to make an even sixty," Ari said. "Oh, Erin? This is my friend and former captain Alexis Preston. Alexis, this is my friend Erin Timmons," she said, leaning back so both women could see each other.

"Hey," Alexis said, reaching across Ari to shake Erin's hand.

"Hi," Erin replied, smiling slightly. She ducked her head down a bit but then looked up again. "Where are you from?" she asked as Ari straightened herself out to avoid slipping off the jet completely.

"I'm from Topsfield. It's a town on the Canadian-American border in Maine. How about you?" Alexis asked, covering Ari's mouth just as she was about to speak. To her friend she said, "Ari, I think that by this point, _everyone_ knows you're from Boston."

"I'm from Key West," Erin replied while fingering her shirt cuffs. Ari made a muffled squealing sound as she tried to break free from Alexis. "I've worked up far north long enough though to adjust to the cold," Erin added, glancing at Alexis.

"Took me a while to get used to the difference in heat in DC compared to Maine in the summer. Then they shipped me off to Texas for more specialized training. I didn't realize though that 'specialized training' included watching this ball of energy," she said, abruptly releasing Ari's mouth. Ari let out a yelp as she nearly slid off completely.

"Now all we need is some VIP to walk in through those doors," she said, pointing at the doors that led to the hangars. After a moment of silence, she said, "I hope I did not just jinx us."

"I think you just did," Erin said as the door creaked open. The three of them straightened in anticipation, all expecting someone different. Alexis looked apprehensive, Ari looked as though she was ready to bolt, and Erin looked hopeful.

It was Epps. "Timmons, we need you for something quick. Aliskevicz, not now," he said as Ari began to get up to follow Erin.

"Where's Cromwell?" Ari asked curiously as Erin used the ladder to climb back down to the ground.

Epps shrugged. "Last I saw, he was butting heads with General Skye over moving the squadron to a new location. Colonel Stanton and Lieutenant Davis were at each other's throats over ranking. Any idea what that might be about?" he asked. "I always thought that Stanton had her own ideas about a command chain."

"Just because she thinks it works for her doesn't mean she likes it when others try the same trick," Alexis said with a straight face, and Ari nodded in a supporting way. "And no, we don't know why she's arguing with him over rank."

"Okay, thanks," Epps replied as Erin joined him. "We may need you later on, Aliskevicz," he warned before shutting the door to the hangar.

Both women were silent for about three seconds until Ari started cracking up. "Screamer must be _really_ pissed off with Kina's ruling if he's willing to enter a battle of wits with a master veteran," she said between giggles while curling up on her side. "Doesn't he know that it's going to be a suicidal mission?"

"Kina told you about knocking Screamer down a notch?" Alexis asked, grinning as she faced her friend. Ari was definitely someone she could explicitly trust and never have to worry about an impersonator, or a backstab coming from her.

"Lexi, I was there when, 'Maxwell'," she said, putting air quotes around Tyrone's last name, "showed up in the med wing with a bloody Screamer. That was a while after Cromwell showed up. 'Course, I thought it was Stryker Davis at the time, but still."

"Who do you think will win the fight?" Alexis asked, leaning on her elbow so she could converse better with her friend.

"Hmmm, well, I've never seen Starscream wage a war with words as his weapons, so I'm putting thirty dollars on Stanton," Ari replied as she sat up and reached for a satchel that Alexis realized had been laid against the cockpit hatch. "You?"

"I'll put thirty on Screamer. He's stubborn, and hates losing. If he's also smart, he'll realize he's losing to a female, which he considers the weaker part of the human race. That'll drive the knife in a little deeper," Alexis said as Ari opened her satchel and pulled out two thick pretzel sticks and then set them down to form three sections. "What the hell are those for?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Remember when Skywarp and Screamer were chasing us and I said I wanted Lennox to help me with sorting out the battlefield?" Ari asked as she pulled out an assortment of chess and checkers pieces. "I didn't know how many we'd need so I raided two games of both chess and checkers to get the pieces. Figured I'd leave the pieces for Cromwell and Stanton to find in his office when we're done. Anyway, Lennox _still _isn't back, which is making me nervous, so, after pulling Kina along a bit, I think I've figured out where we all stand."

"This is going to be interesting," Alexis said, watching as Ari separated the different pieces. "I really hope we don't need all of those," she added as she mentally counted the number of pieces on top of the jet.

"It would be World War Three if we did need all the pieces," Ari said as she picked out two kings, one black and one white. "Okay, remember the rules of chess? Whoever captures the king first wins. Lucky for us, our king is Optimus," she said, settling one king on the side of the two sticks closer to her and settling the other king close to Alexis. "Also luckily for us, Megatron, who's back by the way, likes coming out onto the battlefield with his little minions. Not only is he the key to checkmate, but he's also one of the most powerful players on the board. Once he's knocked out for good, it's over and just Starscream left," she said, taking one of the queen pieces and using a rubber band to tie the king and queen together.

"Who is our queen?" Alexis asked, but stopped when Ari glared at her.

"I'll give you one guess. Our temperamental queen is in the middle of a screaming match with Screamer," Ari said knowingly as she placed the other queen on her side of the pretzel sticks. "The Autobots are technically on our side," she continued, placing more pieces down on her side. "The exact numbers of the Decepticons are still unaccounted for," she added, taking a handful of red checkers and putting it on Alexis's side of the pretzel sticks. "You, Kina and I," she continued, taking three more pawns in hand, "we are here in the middle of the two warring parties," she said, putting the pawns in the middle space. We are in the middle because we know about both sides…"

"Starscream and Skywarp I think are on their own side," Alexis interrupted, moving two of the checkers off to the side. Ari frowned, leaned over, and replaced a checker piece with a third king piece.

"So you've got the Autobots and NEST over here, Megatron and the other Decepticons over there, Starscream off to the side a bit which he probably won't like, and the three of us who together have the most knowledge of what the hell is going on. _My_ guess is that NEST is going to try and drive a deeper wedge between Megatron and Starscream. You know, divide and conquer," Ari said, scratching the side of her head as she studied her impromptu diagram.

"Whose plan is this, yours or Stanton's?" Alexis asked after a moment of silence.

"Um, I think half of it is Stanton's. I heard her talking about it to Epps and Optimus earlier," Ari said, absently brushing the rest of the unused pieces off of the jet and ignored the loud clatter they made while hitting the ground.

"They're going to need some powerful bait to be drawn out into the open," Alexis said, also studying the crude diagram that was apparently their only chance at staying one step ahead of the Decepticons.

"You know Stanton. She'll come up with something too tempting to pass up," Ari said. "Now if Screamer decides to join Megatron, we're screwed. If he decides to join us, well, I have a feeling we're _still_ screwed because Megatron will be awfully mad at us, specifically Screamer," she said, eyeing the pretzel sticks. She was quiet for a moment, and then asked, "Are you going to eat that one? If not, can I have them both?"

"When did you last eat?" Alexis asked as Ari began munching on the borderline between the middle section and the Autobots.

"I dunno. I took a nap not too long after breakfast, and I'm probably going to be too nervous to manage anything but a cup of coffee at lunch," Ari said nervously. "Gotta see Skywarp and Screamer today at the coffee place remember?" she reminded Alexis as she chewed on the pretzel stick. "You know something? I forgot that I hate eating these things without a drink of some kind. Gets all stuck in my mouth."

"Do me a favor and ask Skywarp never to use the appearance of Tyrone ever again," Alexis said coldly, her fingers tightening unconsciously into a fist. "I wish I could get back at Screamer, just to drive the point home," she said, twisting around so that she was on her back and staring up at the ceiling.

"What kind of point?" Ari asked curiously, looking up from her second pretzel stick.

"A point to show that I can be just as problematic," Alexis said, sitting up. Carefully getting to her feet, she delicately stepped around Ari and the numerous game pieces and began making her way back towards the ladder.

"Hey, wait for me!" Ari yelped, scrabbling to her feet to join her friend. She paused as she remembered something, and then snatched the second half of her pretzel stick. "I'll clean up my mess later, and don't worry, it'll be before your next flight!"

"For the last time, this isn't my jet!" Alexis called up from halfway down the ladder. She grinned when Ari rolled her eyes at the distinction, and then jumped down the rest of the way to the ground. "Catch me if you can!" she said tauntingly and then began jogging towards the exit, a cursing Ari close behind.

"Damn it Alexis, I thought we weren't going to do this after we went through that crazy drill sergeant!" Ari wailed as she ran in an attempt to chase Alexis. "Sorry, Lexi," she panted as she joined Alexis at a walk in the hallway. "I lost most of my motivation when I lost contact with Tyler," she said sadly. She glanced at Alexis and asked, "Do you think Starscream somehow got to him too?"

Alexis shook her head. "Tyler is probably somewhere safe. The Air Force personnel always looks after their own, remember?" she said, looking at her friend.

"Yeah, I guess… hello Mrs. Cromwell," Ari said, looking up and graciously greeting the major's wife. In Alexis's opinion, Lisa looked thinner and paler than last time, as though her husband's job was taking too much out of her. "Where is Ethan?" Ari asked as they approached each other.

"I asked my brother to take him home so that I can stay with Tegan for a little while," Lisa said, smiling faintly. She looked down at her clasped hands and said, "I'm going to help him… _whoops!_"

Alexis moved fast, barely catching Lisa as the other woman stumbled to regain her footing. "Are you all right?" she asked as she helped Lisa regain her balance.

"Yes, thank you. It's probably the heels," Lisa said mournfully as she examined her shoes. "Might have to steal Tegan's boots at some point," she said, straightening and brushing her dark-blonde hair out of her face.

"Heels are um, impractical here," Ari said awkwardly, as though she didn't know what else to say to a major's wife. Actually, Alexis wondered where Ari's social skills were with civilians, seeing that she'd been surrounded by military for a long time now. During their trip to Great Britain, Ari had mostly kept to Alexis and Tyler when they were out and about.

"Is Major Cromwell still with General Skye?" Alexis asked. If he was still in the middle of a grilling, the best advice was to wait and sit it out.

Lisa laughed. "He's still simmering from his meeting with the general," she said, still smiling. "But he's done now, and I'm not too sure where Skye is."

"Thank you, Mrs. Cromwell," Alexis said before continuing on to the major's office. "Well, that was interesting," she said as Ari caught up.

"No kidding. Why the hell are we going to him anyway? We're walking into the lion's den," Ari said, slowing down once she was beside Alexis. "What do you have in mind anyway?"

"He might know something that could help us get back at Starscream," Alexis replied, looking at Ari. "All right, this is what I'd been thinking. First, remember when you dismantled him earlier this week, and then he was unable to transform when we were causing problems?" she asked. When Ari nodded, she said, "Do you think you could do it again?"

"Not without him noticing," Ari replied. "If his hologram was distracted then I think I could stand a fair chance of coming out clean."

"Okay, well, we're going right now to ask Cromwell about a flight exercise. Then, if he says yes, we'll go to the Autobots and see if there are any special mechanisms that can take away their control of their vehicles," Alexis said, noting with satisfaction as realization dawned on Ari.

"Then if so, we disable Screamer and you're going to attempt to fly him oh my God Alexis are you insane you are going to die, what do you want at your funeral? I hear white daisies are the 'in' flower at the moment. The second he gets better, and we both know that he will, he is going to _kill_ you. Then he'll resurrect you and kill you all over again," Ari hissed as they approached Cromwell's office.

"Not quite what I had in mind, but I like your idea better," Alexis muttered back before knocking. She refrained from rolling her eyes when she heard Ari curse softly beside her. She jumped back however when Starscream came out of the office, glaring at her. He slammed the door shut and stood menacingly over her, and she got the distinct impression that with his superior hearing, it was pretty safe to bet that he heard her and Ari.

"Well, I just remembered I have an eleven-thirty doctor's appointment that I'm ten minutes late to," Ari said suddenly, checking her imaginary watch to quick for Alexis to notice. "I'll be back, um, in a couple hours or something like that," she added while backing up and somewhat making a dash for it, leaving Alexis with an enraged Decepticon.

They were both silent until Alexis asked, "You heard every word of that didn't you?"

"I'm surprised Ari is still alive. Stealth is not one of her strengths," Starscream replied icily.

"It isn't one of yours either. Earlier this morning I heard you with someone talking about a deal. What was it?" Alexis asked in the same monotone that he was using.

Instead of answering her question, Starscream said, "Major Cromwell isn't available now. So now, as your acting _superior_, I am ordering you to be ready to leave this place by the end of the day."

Alexis raised an eyebrow. Had Kina lost her battle with Cromwell or was Starscream bluffing? "Who died and left you in charge?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest and raising her chin up at him.

"I wish Stanton did. Time and exile has done little to subdue her temper," Starscream replied coolly.

"Wouldn't be the first time someone wished her gone. Did you say that to her?" Alexis asked, wondering if the fight had been caught on camera and was still available. "Did she straighten you both out or something?"

Starscream muttered something unintelligible, and then said, "Is there such thing in your army as 'Leader Privileges'? As in, your army leaders have the ability to allow any rank to be their second-in-command and no one else below the rank of 'Brigadier General' is permitted to do the same action?"

Alexis refrained from laughing out loud. It sounded like something Stanton would come up with on the fly, and Kina would've gone along with it. "How would I know? I mean, if it's something for leaders only, I don't think they'd let me know about it," she said. She tilted her head and asked, "In that case, does it mean that you could be my subordinate again?"

"I still have Maxwell," Starscream warned.

"I know, I was just wondering," she replied, refusing to let the barb get to her this time. "This means that you're not my acting superior, so now I'm ordering you to move aside and let me in," she said, gesturing for him to move aside.

"I think my biggest error so far was not making myself a higher rank than you," he said, glaring at her and obstinately refusing to move. "If you want me to move, then you're going to have to make me," he snapped, lowering down slightly so that he could glare and intimidate her better.

"Sorry, Screamer, you leave me no choice," she said in a faux mournful tone. Before he could react, she took a fistful of his shirt collar and pulled him down the rest of the way to kiss him.

She really didn't know who was more surprised at the action, him or herself. He would have been surprised because he hadn't seen it coming, and she'd surprised herself for coming up with the idea on the spot. The point was that he didn't fight back, and she didn't hurry to end it. Whatever the reasoning though, it had come so sudden that she was able to discreetly turn themselves around so that Cromwell's office door was behind her back.

Alexis smiled faintly when she let him go, feeling a little bit guilty for pulling that card. Starscream seemed too stunned to say anything right away. She turned slightly and opened Cromwell's door only to find that Starscream had been right all along and that the major was indeed unavailable. She closed the door to the empty office, and was about to leave when Starscream gripped her shoulder and pulled her back.

"You really think you can get away with that?" he asked softly, in an almost dangerous tone. Alexis suppressed the shudder that ran down her spine, but she knew he saw it anyway. "One day, when you're unprepared, I'll be waiting," he warned, and Alexis could sense that there was an undercurrent of an unknown emotion in his tone, but she couldn't tear her eyes from him. She stared at him, as though trying to receive the message he was trying to communicate, but he looked away, growling in frustration. "Your dynamic friend will also be out of the way," he added as Ari rounded the corner and walked into the vicinity. With those words, he released Alexis's shoulder and turned around. "Is there something you want?" he asked upon seeing Ari's hopeful expression.

"Who won the spat between you and Stanton?" she asked eagerly.

"How much do you have betting on the outcome?" he countered, scowling.

"Sixty bucks. Who won?" Ari asked persistently.

"Stanton. Said something about 'Leader Privileges' and army regulations, effectively ending the argument for now," Starscream replied icily.

"Aw, that's too bad. You lost the fight, Alexis lost thirty dollars, and I won sixty. Looks like I'm the only one going to bed happy tonight," she said, winking conspiratorially.

Instead of replying, Starscream stalked off. Ari watched him go, and then asked, "Alexis, did you two do something important when I had my back turned?" She raised an eyebrow in Alexis's direction.

"Nope," Alexis lied.

"I think he still likes you, a lot," Ari said, eyeing her friend. "You know, I gotta be honest, I think he's better than Maxwell," she added, carefully watching Alexis's expression.

At least Alexis didn't flip out like Ari had feared. "Why?" she asked, trying to refrain from sounding shocked. Ari was always unpredictable like that.

Ari shrugged. "At least Screamer isn't a jerk when your back is turned. He's nice enough to be rude 24/7 so that we both know it. Maxwell was more sneaky about it, like in that Chinese place. He was, um, blunt when you went to the restroom. Plus, Screamer really does care for you… I mean he hasn't killed you yet, even though you've instigated enough reasons to do so. On top of that, he kept the 401st insignia when he could've ditched it. I think he's still into you, and it's obvious to me that you still care about him even though he did do some unforgivable stuff before he left," she said, taking a deep breath once she'd finished. After a moment's silence, she asked, "What the hell are 'Leader Privileges'?"

"Dunno, something Stanton made up," Alexis said, jamming her hands into her pockets. She frowned as her fingers made contact with a smooth metal surface.

"So remember," Ari said, no doubt thinking of her diagram from earlier. "Autobots and NEST are on one side, Screamer and Skywarp on their own side, and Megatron and the other Decepticons have their own team. Screamer is probably pretending to be loyal to Megatron. You, me and Kina are the only three pawns in the middle of the three sides because we know everything."

"Pawns?" Alexis asked as she began fishing in her pocket for the metal device.

"They're one of the most powerful pieces on the board. Get to one side, and you automatically have another bishop, knight, or queen. I think you're getting close to that because you keep inching towards Screamer whether you like it or not… what the hell is that?" Ari asked, diverting her train of thought when Alexis pulled out a small black cell phone. "It's not a Decepticon is it?"

"No… I don't think so. The insignia isn't present. I might've accidentally picked it up somewhere," Alexis said, stuffing the phone away. "I'll try to return it soon. You should get lunch."

"Too nervous to eat. I'll settle for coffee," Ari replied, rubbing her head as she followed Alexis back to the mess hall. "If Epps asks for me while I'm gone, do me a favor and tell him that I have a date with the Grim Reaper. Then tell me his reaction," she quickly added as they turned the corner. She ducked as Alexis aimed a fake swing at her, and then waited until Alexis was turned away before socking her friend on the shoulder in a playful manner.

----------

A/N: This the last update for this story before exams. Imperial Hunter and possibly one of my original fiction stories will be the last two stories to receive updates also. So I will be back after exams are over, so until next time! :)


	18. Red Handed

Eighteen

Red-Handed

Alexis found Stanton at lunch sitting at a table by herself, which was understandable since the older woman was shooting death glares at anyone who walked by the table. Alexis could only imagine what had happened; she had stopped by her room to ditch the cell phone before coming to lunch. Stanton was leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed, eyeing each passer by suspiciously as they walked by her. Alexis however made it unscathed when she sat down on Stanton's right. Faithful as ever, Ari slid into the seat on Stanton's left, and Alexis had the vague notion that if at all, the two of them just made it harder for other personnel to approach them. For Alexis and Ari however, Stanton being demoted to colonel seemed to make her easier to approach.

"Um, what happened?" Ari finally asked, looking at her former commanding officer.

"Starscream did. Someone gave him the slip that I made up some information about our command structure. Now I can't touch any of the electronics in my office; he wired my computer to do something funky, and it wiped my entire hard drive clean when I tried to copy and paste some text into an email," she replied icily.

Alexis made eye contact with Ari and held her hand out behind Stanton's back. Ari scowled before handing Alexis her money back, plus an extra fifteen. Then both women straightened, and Alexis said casually, "I'll look for the idiot who blew your secret, and bring them to you, ma'am." She smirked when Ari made a sound of disapproval at the decision.

"Do what you will," Stanton muttered darkly, casting a glance across the mess hall as though everyone in it was to blame for something that went wrong in her life at some point. She narrowed her eyes and said, "Who the hell is that?"

Alexis looked up as did Ari and found the object of Stanton's attention. It was a blond-haired man who was talking to another pilot, and even from where they were sitting Alexis could see that the lack of insignia probably meant that he was low on the ranking scale. Ari snickered. "I talked to that guy, and he has this great sense of humor. He's a pretty fair pilot, and I personally think he's kinda cute. His name is Jeremy," Ari said while grinning as the man and his friend turned around and began to walk in their general direction.

Stanton scowled when she analyzed and recognized the man's face, and then said in a cool tone, "Aliskevicz?"

"Yeah?"

"That's my son you're talking about."

"Oh," Ari said in an awkward tone as Alexis stifled her giggles at her friend's discomfort. She was pretty sure that Ari would have said more things that weren't appropriate meal conversation if Stanton hadn't pointed out the familial relationship. Things as in, stuff a person would say about a guy or girl if his or her mother weren't sitting right next to them. "So, um, what's he doing here?" Ari finally asked carefully.

Stanton shrugged. "That's a good question. He told me he hated what I did and that it was partially my job's fault that Matt died. Said he'd have nothing to do with the military or me ever again," she said, looking down as the two men passed their table. Ari offered a small smile and little wave as he passed, and Alexis said or did nothing as his eyes slid over to her. Stanton only looked up after he'd passed. "I'd love to hear that story," she muttered, watching him walk away to a table nearby.

"Not me. I prefer anything but tragedies," Ari muttered, and winced when Stanton elbowed her sharply under the table. "I suppose I deserved that," she added thoughtfully while leaning back in the seat in a similar fashion to the colonel.

"Sure you did," Alexis replied, grinning. She looked up suddenly, hearing a loud cry of delight overpower the sounds of chattering in the mess. She looked over towards the left side of the mess hall and recognized Major Lennox standing there with a few of the Autobot holograms. It was the two women nearby however, that the squeal had come from. Copper-haired Rose Connelly was locked in a hug with someone Alexis didn't recognized, but the blond-brown haired woman who was with Connelly was wearing a USAF uniform, and was talking with both Erin and Rose. Lennox was saying and gesturing something to Epps, while what Alexis assumed were the Autobots' holograms were keeping close. One of the females had her back pointedly turned to a small pack of male pilots who were acting unusually juvenile for having been professionally trained. "Riley's acting like an idiot," Alexis finally observed as Riley, one of the men trying to flirt, balanced a spoon on his nose, which was promptly knocked over by one of his companions.

"Idiot. Hey, is that a _girl_ Autobot? I didn't know there were girls!" Ari said, suddenly straightening up in indignation. "I know it seems trivial, but when you're only one of like, ten girls on Diego Garcia, it would have meant a world of difference if there were girl Autobots," she said, scowling.

"And it's one of Stanton's favorite people," Alexis observed, mentally groaning when Lennox finally spotted them. He said something to Epps, and then began to make his way over, two people following him.

"Which one?" Stanton asked curiously, opening her eyes from her doze. Alexis watched with slight amusement as the colonel's eyes narrowed to slits and she said coolly, "Oh, _him_. Eh, better than Simmons or Galloway, but not much of an improvement."

"Do you have something against _Lennox_ now?" Ari asked curiously, careful to keep her voice down; one of the approaching personnel was Optimus. Alexis knew that he would be able to hear anyway; his superior hearing seemed to be able to catch any kind of whisper. If it was any comfort to Stanton however, Lennox seemed just as excited to see her as she was to see him. He came to a stop in front of Stanton's table, Optimus and Epps standing beside him.

"So," he began, leaning on the table slightly. "I heard about your little venture on Diego Garcia."

"Good. Now we both know that you weren't as unreachable as Lieutenant Aliskevicz and Sergeant Epps claimed you were," Stanton replied in a faux sweet tone, offering a half-smile for emphasis.

"Colonel, do you want to know something?" Lennox asked, and before she could give her consent or denial, he continued. "At the beginning of this year, I made myself a New Year's resolution that I fully intend to keep. It is this; In the off chance I ever encounter Colonel Stanton again, I resolve to work my hardest to cooperate with her instead of fight with her, because I saw how difficult you were every single time my superior officer had to check with you about movements in Qatar," he said, leaning on the table as though to appear more frightening.

Stanton pursed her lips, and said, "If it's any comfort, I didn't mind working with you two years ago. There was some unresolved bad blood between your superior and I. End of story." She looked up at him and asked politely, "What do you want now?"

Lennox straightened. "First, I thought you should be aware that I didn't come back from Argentina alone," he said calmly.

"Let me guess. You came back with the Transformer that Simmons alluded to the other day, and had a fellow pilot," Stanton interrupted.

Lennox sighed, but nodded. "Her name is Jade Rivers, and she and Timmons work together as a team," he said, gesturing to one of the women back with the others before glancing at Optimus. Alexis noted that the woman had two streaks of blond hair on either side of her blue kerchief, and her brown hair was visible from where she was sitting.

"Skyfire is a scientist who has been with us for a long time," Optimus said calmly. "I can and will vouch for him if you still have problems with him being here."

Stanton shook her head. "Not at all. What alternate form does he take?" she asked, clasping her hands together.

"One of the bigger bombers. You may have gotten notified about it… the traffic control tower said we needed an officer's authorization to get in, and we named both you and General Skye," Lennox said, grimacing at the faint scowl that crossed Stanton's face.

"That explains the angry phone call from Thayer," she muttered darkly, but then looked up at Lennox with a faint smile. "There's something else you want. What is it?" she asked, folding her hands together.

"Your plan. Epps and Tobias both think you're going to go ahead with whatever it is that you want, and something like permission isn't going to slow you down. What is your plan so NEST can either keep up or stay away from your operation," Lennox said, abruptly sitting down. His companions claimed the other empty seats, and Alexis sensed the slight tension in the air.

"Easy. I want to draw Megatron out and slow him down. Is it possible?" she said, shrugging at her last word. "I don't know. Do I want to go ahead anyway? Yeah, I think I do. Then at least we could say we tried," she finished, leaning back in her seat.

"Megatron has always been a formidable opponent," Optimus warned. "It will be a desperate attempt on your part."

Ari shrugged and decided to throw in her two cents. "I think we have a chance as long we don't tell Starscream because he might tell Megatron. We shouldn't tell Skywarp because he'll tell Starscream who will tell Megatron," she said, picking at something on her finger.

"I thought you said Screamer and Skywarp, and Megatron were their own teams," Alexis said before Lennox could react.

Ari gave her friend an exasperated look. "Screamer and Warp are still Decepticons and Screamer still might decide to back Megatron because that angle might serve him better. Just because Megatron and Screamer got their own kings doesn't mean they can't double up," she said, leaning back to face her friend behind Stanton's back.

"What are you two talking about?" Lennox cut in. "I thought there was just Starscream hanging out around here."

"Since two of the Seekers are here then, we should assume that the third, Thundercracker, is either somewhere nearby to come to Starscream's aid or is serving his superior in a way that is beneficial for Starscream. We should approach them with extreme caution when the time is right," Optimus said thoughtfully.

"Screamer's been here for a while, and I think he's still got a hostage or two," Alexis said, copying Stanton and leaning back in the chair.

Major Lennox looked irritated at the amount of unknown factors. He took a deep breath through the nose before saying, "Colonel, you want to draw Megatron out and at least maim him to slow him down so that _we_ have more time to get an edge over the Decepticons?"

"Yeah. I understand if we can't do it," Stanton said, her voice dropping slightly.

"I believe we can, it is just that you put your own at risk when attempting this. We must also allow Megatron to make the first move," Optimus said calmly, glancing at Lennox.

"We also need permission from Johnson, and I need to see it," Lennox added, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Already taken care of," she replied, pulling a folded piece of paper from her pocket. She smoothed out the typed permission with Johnson's signature scrawled at the bottom. "Check it against his other signatures if you're so unsure," she offered. She inclined her head and said, "I also fulfilled Thayer's requirement of cooperating with Simmons, and he'd be with us on the mission, and had a digital copy of Thayer's permission, but my computer crashed."

Lennox studied the paper for a few minutes, and then he said, "Even though you were obviously going to go ahead with or without me, well, just don't make me regret trusting you on everything you said." He passed the paper back to her and she folded it back up and pocketed it away. "Johnson was recalled back to the White House for executive matters, so obviously I can't check with him," Lennox said grimly. He put his face in a hand for a moment, and then said, "We're going to go back, and I'm going to run this by the others, and I'll call you when we reach a final decision."

"Sounds good to me," Stanton said sweetly as they started to get up. "My phone is always on, so if I don't answer, it's because I'm otherwise occupied," she said calmly as Epps and Optimus started to head back to their comrades, Lennox lingering to catch Stanton's last words.

"Very well," Lennox said grimly before walking away also.

Stanton let out a breath between her teeth as Ari and Alexis turned to face her. "Did you seriously stop fighting with Simmons? That feud of yours is one of the few things that lets me know that I'm still in a sane world," Ari said, glaring at Stanton.

"Hell no. I just said that for Lennox's peace of mind. Simmons's is going to email me at some point saying he can't go because for some reason or other," Stanton said, shrugging. "Thayer's phone is going to be on the blitz when Lennox calls him for confirmation of the green light, all while Thayer is on vacation," she added, leaning and placing her head on the back of her chair while closing her eyes.

"I'm not going to lie; that's going to bite you later. If I were you, I'd consider at least attempting to make peace with Simmons. He's your best human Transformer expert other than NEST whether you hate him or not," Alexis said, turning around to face forward again. She frowned however when Troublemaker #2 got up from the table he'd been sitting at with his buddies and walked very stiffly over to them. "Colonel? You might want to wake up for this one," she said as the man approached them.

Stanton woke up and looked up into a pair of blue eyes that were similar to her own. Wearing the rank of an Airman First Class, Jeremy seemed taller than she remembered. Knowing that this would bite her later, she asked in a polite tone, "Can I help you, Airman?"

Alexis watched as Jeremy, the one Stanton child that the colonel rarely spoke about was taken aback by his mother's formal tone. Then, remembering where he was, he saluted stiffly and then said, "Yes ma'am, but it's something to be dealt with behind closed doors." He pointedly looked at her as though to make it clear he wanted to speak to her and her only.

Stanton pursed her lips, and then gestured for him to sit down before her. She turned to Alexis and said, "Captain, do me a favor and locate Davis and Cromwell, and bring Davis to me. If I'm not done by the time you bring him back, make sure he and Cromwell remain separated."

"Yes, ma'am," Alexis said getting up as Ari did, but Stanton pulled Ai's sleeve in order to yank her back down.

"Aliskevicz, I have a different job for you," she said, looking up at Ari. "Your job; stay out of trouble for more than an hour and find Keller for me."

"Yes ma'am!" Ari chirped before turning on her heel and promptly leaving the table in one direction as Alexis walked away in the opposite. Alexis turned and walked backwards for a few moments; even though it classified as spying, she was concerned about the colonel's welfare. Considering though that Stanton was still wearing her 'politician's mask', or the usual blank expression she reserved for when she spoke with the politicians regarding military movements, Alexis surmised that the older woman was able to handle herself all right.

She turned around on her heel mid-step and continued walking towards the hangar. She was hoping that Starscream would be in a more complacent mood now that he had extracted revenge from Stanton for her earlier lie. On the other hand however, he could still be steaming from their earlier confrontation and could be lying in wait for her to walk unsuspectingly into whatever trap he had so he could coerce her into complete obedience again.

Eh, she was going to try and avoid that this time.

Wherever his hologram was in the base, she knew the fastest way to get his attention was messing with his physical form. She knew he hated that, and nothing snagged his attention faster than doing that, especially when he was trying to get a break from the yucky humans. She sighed, and then reached for the hangar door and yanked at the handle.

It was locked.

Instead of jiggling it and then giving the Starscream the satisfaction of victory by storming off, she growled to herself and used the custodian's key to unlock the hangar door. There were only two reasons why the door could be locked; one, he wanted privacy for a decent recharge, or two, he was just being spiteful and locked the door on purpose somehow knowing that she was going to be the next person to walk in the door.

After she opened the door, she kind of wished that she didn't.

It was the oddest scene she walked into.

Skywarp's hologram was off to the side on top of his own wing. Skywarp at least had the decency to change his hologram to something other than Tyrone's image, so Ari would only be reinforcing the point at her coffee 'meeting' later that afternoon. Cromwell however appeared as though he was about to enter a slugging match with Starscream… or at least that's how it appeared to Alexis. The two men were right in each other's faces, only backing off as soon as she walked into the scene.

"Um, am I interrupting something?" she asked, wondering if Stanton's original intent had been that finding Starscream was supposed to be a long task that would keep her occupied for hours, like Ari's job was. No one had thought to tell the poor lieutenant that Keller had left hours ago with Johnson, and was probably anywhere in the capital by now. Ari was going to be at her task for hours, and Alexis suspected that she was supposed to be as well.

"You aren't interrupting anything," Starscream replied, easily sidestepping the major while earning a little moan of disappointment from Skywarp, who apparently had been expecting some kind of entertainment. "In fact," Starscream continued as Cromwell moved to the nose of the purple F-22 and leaned against it. "In fact, we were just talking about something that Warp wants to do when we move out, and Major Cromwell was just expressing his displeasure at the idea," he said, walking over so that he was standing in front of her.

Alexis refused to be intimidated. "Stanton said that if she was still busy by the time I found you, I had to keep you and Cromwell separated," she said, crossing her arms while maintaining eye contact with him.

"Does she not trust me anymore?" Cromwell casually asked while casting a glance at Alexis, which she saw barely past Starscream's side. "Or is she and Skye still smarting from earlier and she doesn't want us to collaborate another attack to her precious rules?"

"I don't know, she usually doesn't tell me why she wants someone, she just tells me to get them," Alexis said, backing up so that it was easier to step around Starscream's bulk to get to Cromwell. She let out a groan of irritation however when Starscream got a firm grip on her upper arm and pulled her back, and then made a squeak as she tried to pull her arm out. "Lemme go!" she snapped, attempting a swipe at Starscream's face, but failed miserably as he leaned back far enough to avoid her hand.

"I don't know whether to feel honored that the esteemed colonel wants to speak to _me_ or feel insulted that she sent a minion to fetch me," Cromwell said absently as he watched Skywarp who was curiously examining the rafters.

"Stanton doesn't want you, she wants Starscream and the two of you separated. She can get away with it because even with your little trick, she's still your boss," Alexis snapped as she began prying at Starscream's fingers, which didn't move a fraction as she tried to pull it off her arm. She contemplated taking a swing at his face, and decided to use that as a last resort. For some reason, he wouldn't let her get any closer to Cromwell.

"Does the colonel fly?" Cromwell asked while looking up at her. Skywarp had abandoned the ceiling and was now watching the conversation with unveiled interest. "No one said anything about her flying yet she seems to be at ease commanding pilots. On top of that, I have seen General Skye taking a F-22 out. Why not her?"

Alexis stopped struggling long enough to face him. Starscream had changed his position so that it was easier on her shoulder. "The last time Stanton flew was, um, in 2005. Never flown since because apparently she no longer qualifies as a pilot, plus I think that it's easier for her not to fly," she said, digging her heels into the ground as Starscream tried to pull her back. She wasn't going to let him boss her around… for now.

"Is it her age that prevents her?" Major Cromwell asked calmly.

Alexis stared at him. "Hasn't your wife taught you that that question is one of the three questions you should never _ever_ ask a woman?" she asked, pausing in her fight against Starscream's grip. Her hand and wrist was starting to feel tingly.

"I wonder what the other two are," Skywarp mused aloud, and then vanished somewhere on top of the jet. Alexis was ready to bet that he was using his available resources to figure the questions out.

She was also getting fed up with Starscream. Two years of no human interaction seemed to have let him forget that his grip was unnaturally strong and she could only tolerate it to a certain extent. Without warning, she turned and aimed a punch at his face, albeit without much power since she knew he would easily avoid the impact. She knew she was free the second her hand passed through his face and his hologram fizzed out of existence. But she was also unprepared for the sudden disappearance of a support, and stumbled as the momentum of the swing forced her backwards. She quickly regained her balance, saw that Starscream had chosen to disappear completely, and then turned to see Cromwell was eyeing her warily now.

"So what factor is it that prevents her from flight?" Cromwell asked, but froze when she approached him. Even though he couldn't back away much because of the jet behind him, he still leaned away from her as far as possible as she stopped right in front of him.

"I don't exactly know. Why are you so interested?" Alexis asked, rubbing her arm while silently cursing Starscream.

Cromwell shrugged. "Do you not know?" he asked, looking at her as he leaned casually against the purple jet. His questions were starting to irk her, but she didn't let it show. Instead she marched right up to him so that they were almost touching, but not quite. Cromwell backed up only a little but leaned away to create more comfortable distance between them. "Will you please back off?" he hissed crossly, the tone of his voice changing subtly from his usual smooth tone to one that carried metallic undertones, one that sounded oddly familiar to ears that were used to listening to Autobots and Decepticons alike…

"No," she hissed back, keeping her panic under some sort of control. If this was yet _another_ Decepticon here with Starscream's blessing, she was going to wait for the perfect moment to call him out on it. She waited a few moments, and then finally stepped back to allow Cromwell the impression he had intimidated her into backing down. She watched as he too relaxed, before scrabbling together the remnants of her courage and taking a swing at his face as though to slap him. If she erred and this was a real flesh-and-blood human, she was just about to kiss her flying career good-bye…

Her hand went right through his face.

Okay, she might be about to kiss her _life_ good-bye…

Remembering how enraged both Starscream and Skywarp both had been when she first discovered them, she quickly backpedaled away from the hologram as it snapped out of existence. "Starscream!" she yelped as she stumbled in her flight. She looked wildly around for the first jet to be transforming to come after her. Instead she let out a short scream as Starscream snapped into existence right by her side. Other than that, she saw no transformations.

"Thundercracker won't be coming after you… for now. That _woman _wore down his energy levels earlier today, and we were trying to prevent you from finding out like that," he said in a pleasant tone as she whirled to face him again. "Then, if you still wish, we can do a _proper_ introduction."

"What about Lisa?" Alexis demanded, feeling sorrow for the confirmed widow. While the Decepticons may not be concerned about the level of heartbreak this meant for the single mother, Alexis was and she was determined to make sure that the situation was handled properly. "She's been…with a imposter the whole time believing that her husband was alive, do you know how cruel that is? To dash her hopes like that?"

"She was merely an unnecessary and unwanted complication that Maxwell decided to throw in. Another factor in my decision to temporarily remove Maxwell," Starscream said calmly, refusing to back down.

"What were the other factors?" Alexis shot back.

"He saw Skywarp before Skywarp had a chance to hide himself, the day of your little flight miscommunication," Starscream countered.

"And?"

"The rest aren't any of your business!" Starscream snarled, his hand tightening into a fist and for a moment, Alexis was sure he was going to hit her.

"I find it kind of ironic that we were just discussing the three of you a little while ago," Alexis said, folding her arms to help speed along the calming down process. Changing the subject would do her a world of good too.

" 'We'?" Starscream repeated in a cool tone, latching onto the one word she'd hoped he would miss.

"Yeah, me, Ari, Stanton, um, and…" she began, unsure if she should mention the Autobots now.

"The Autobots! They've been camped out with us for a while; I saw those despicable twins… not the terrifying pair, the less threatening pair," Skywarp interrupted somewhat gleefully from his place on a silver F-22 that was not Starscream. A groan seemed to come from the jet he was on. Starscream looked as though he was going to _force_ them both to shut up.

Starscream pressed his hands to his temples, his teeth visibly clenched and Alexis smirked. "See? That's how _I _feel when you bombard me with all this hiding stuff," she said loftily while straightening her back as though become taller than him and establish some superiority. "So how does it feel to have the tables turned?"

"They'd better let us out for a flight soon…I'm going to need it," Starscream growled as he turned to face the massive exit. "Then I want the Autobots lined up so I can remove them," he snapped, but then stopped as Skywarp made an interesting 'ooo' as they both came to the same idea. "If I, I mean _we_, eliminated Prime before Megatron found us, I think we could get back into his good graces quite easily."

"Aw man," Alexis muttered; that wasn't what she'd been intending! But the hangar door opened, interrupting any conversation right away as both she and Starscream turned to see Kina walk in, dressed in full uniform. Her blond hair was pulled back into the formal bun, and added to the severity of her appearance.

She studied the scene before her, her best friend and the mouthy lieutenant standing next to each other in a civil manner. Then she said, "I was looking for both of you, and Colonel Stanton and Major Cromwell."

"Major Cromwell is unavailable," Starscream said almost immediately.

Kina smiled. "Well, I bet he thinks it's nice to have someone to be the constant messenger boy," she said pleasantly. To avoid giving time to Starscream to figure that one out, she said, "Please inform Major Cromwell that he will be accompanying me and the others in the move to New York. His direct superior is Colonel Stanton, and his direct subordinate is Captain Preston. You are her subordinate, and that is Thayer's final word on the matter." She pressed her lips together, before saying, "I have discussed this with the colonel, and, as long as the captain agrees to it, I'm willing to reinstate you as her second-in-command."

"Yeah, it'll be like the good old times," Alexis said, smirking at Starscream's deepening expression of anger. "Well then, _lieutenant,_ I'll be back in a little while," she added while backing up towards the exit. With a hidden pleading expression, Alexis left the hangar with Kina close behind.

"That was close… he'll need to blow off some steam," Alexis said, leaning against the hangar door.

"He's lucky he's getting to come along at all. I don't like the way he's treating you, but Thayer wants to keep a close eye on him," Kina said grumpily, crossing her arms. She looked at Alexis and said, "I encountered Lisa in the hall. She wants to know where her husband is, but I'm getting the feeling he's trying to avoid her; something I've noticed for the last couple days."

"It's complicated, and I can't explain it right now; they can still hear us. Why are we leaving for New York?" Alexis asked quickly.

"We're going because we bracing for some kind of war; Thayer wasn't specific. The base on Long Island is the best launching point the superiors could come up with on a moment's notice. Now what are you doing with..." Kina began.

When are we leaving for New York?" Alexis asked, grimacing to herself when she realized she'd just interrupted a higher rank.

"Tonight. Short notice for many I know, but it was the best time to leave," Kina said, folding her arms. "Alexis, are you sure you know what you're doing with the Decepticons here? This is fire you're messing with."

"I've, um, been sort of burned before, so…" Alexis began, but Kina cut her off.

"Then you should know to leave it alone this time!" she said, looking worried. "Please Alexis, just drop whatever game you're playing and stay safe!"

"I can't! Tyrone is possibly dead or dying, and Starscream won't hand him over until I do as he wishes…" Alexis tried again, but once again Kina interrupted.

"That's what he wants you to do! I bet he wishes he can do that without holding a hostage," Kina said. "Stop letting him manipulate you. Don't fight back either, just, just treat him as the subordinate that he _chose_ to be when selecting his disguise. Keep it professional. Don't make me remind you about that. Remember, keep it professional and he can't get to you as easily."

Alexis smiled slightly and said, "Did I mention how much I missed you?" she asked, and they both laughed as they embraced.

Kina straightened finally and said, "All right, go get ready to leave, and round up any old 401st pilots you can find. I think it's high time we got our squadron back."

Alexis saluted, still grinning, and then left to go hunt down her old human comrades.

---------------

A/N: Yes, exams are over! :) They've actually been done for a little while, but since it's the mid-year, my schedule changed and the workload got increased a bit. The character of Jade Rivers belongs to Icarian Angel Wings, and requires her permission to use elsewhere.


	19. To The Skies

Nineteen

To The Skies

The rest of the afternoon was spent in preparation for departure. Ari had done the more inconvenient thing and disappeared altogether, but Alexis was ready to guess that her friend had wandered off to check her schedule. Ari's trip to the coffee house with Starscream and Skywarp had been labeled a success; she hadn't come back so traumatized that she would've been out of commission for the next week or so. She said they'd been sworn to secrecy over the conversation topics, but Alexis decided to give her friend a couple days before she cracked and spilled.

Alexis knew she didn't want to know what Stanton was planning or even _thinking_; instead of being constantly on the move like her lieutenant subordinate, Stanton was happily settled in the back of the mess hall… the room that happened to be in the center of the base. She sat on the table, feet on the stool, hunched over as she eyed each officer or non-com that passed through. Alexis was seated on the stool next to the colonel, flicking occasional glances at the other woman.

"Are you coming with us to New York?" Alexis asked finally, hoping to break some of the tense silence.

"Yes. Thankfully, General Skye was kind enough to include me in her command staff," Stanton said, carefully examining the next man to enter the mess hall, someone who turned out to be a harmless custodian. She looked at Alexis and said, "Major Cromwell is coming, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Alexis said hesitantly.

"Good. Something about him is off, and I for one am curious to know what," Stanton said, smoothing out her pant leg as Alexis shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Ma'am, are you familiar with the phrase, 'curiosity killed the cat'? Let the issue of the major drop. You're still sore that he dared mouthed you off," Alexis said almost without thinking. If Stanton had still been a general, Alexis wouldn't have dreamed of saying that. But her knockdown in the rank scale seemed to make it easier to approach her. Other than that, Alexis must've dropped the biggest subtle hint that she knew something about Cromwell that Stanton didn't.

For once, Stanton didn't rise to the bait, nor did she seem to catch onto the information dangling in front of her. She fiddled with something in her hand before saying, "Tell Starscream that the Autobots are coming with us to New York. Then if he's got issues with that, tell him to take them up with either Skye or myself; I think she can handle his complaining for now. He's going to figure out about one of the Autobots soon anyway, and that enough might make him cranky."

"Are you really going to attempt to take Megatron out?" Alexis asked, mentally assessing herself. Maybe if Starscream gave her an idea of what to expect, she could join behind Stanton.

"I already have teams mapped out in my head. I just need the consent of the players," Stanton murmured thoughtfully. She was now fiddling with a piece of paper, the Secretary of Defense's permission to go ahead with the mission; Alexis could see his signature amongst the wrinkles in the paper. "Are you ready to depart?" she asked, turning to face Alexis.

"Yes, ma'am," Alexis said, gesturing to her pilot's uniform. Her helmet and mike were waiting patiently in the cockpit of her F-22 Raptor in the hangar. She looked at the slip in Stanton's fingers and asked, "Was it difficult to get that?"

Stanton nodded. "You have no idea. I want to get this done with as quickly and quietly as possible, before Johnson changes his mind," she said suddenly, stuffing the paper away in her pocket. "Captain, I trust you remember everyone in the 401st?"

"Yes, why?" Alexis asked before wondering if it even was her place to question such things.

"General Skye rearranged the squadron to get most if not all of the old pilots back in one place. Most of the pilots are going to check their daily schedules and find that they're flying out in twenty minutes," Stanton said, sliding off the table to the ground. "There's going to be enough cussing around here to last us all a lifetime," she added grimly as she scanned the room once more and located her son, who was waiting at the door to the left. "General Skye will be accompanying you to ensure that there's no monkey business in flight," she added while walking backwards. Alexis bit down on her lip… _hard_ to prevent herself from laughing out loud as Stanton suddenly walked into a table, sending a few stools to the ground. She did take a hint however when Stanton scowled at her, and left.

Stanton was right about the cussing. In the hangar, Alexis found Ari swearing and tripping over herself as she tried to pull her uniform together. "If someone had thought to _tell_ me sooner that I was coming, I would've been ready by now!" she wailed as Alexis walked past her towards the F-22. "And shut up!" she screeched at Skywarp, whose hologram was resting comfortably on the jet wing. He'd been snickering at her clumsiness, and tilted his head in puzzlement when Ari flipped him the bird before shoving her helmet on.

"Captain!"

She turned and grinned when she saw a mostly-suited up Riley approaching eagerly. He stopped in front of her and said, "Ma'am, it's a pleasure to be flying with you again."

"Same here," she said, smiling slightly. "It's also good to see you working with Jackson finally as well."

Riley cast a semi-dark glance at Tobias, who was running the last of the pre-flight checks. "Yeah, well, for you ma'am, I won't start anything. I just can't say the same about him though… I for one haven't forgotten how he had threatened us two years ago."

"Riley, I need the two of you to work together on this. You're both a part of the same squadron," she said sternly, and Riley shrugged. "You're teammates now, and teammates work together."

"Sure, but Davis is still as proud as I remember. With all due respect ma'am, whatever possessed you to ask him back? I was happy being the alpha male around here," Riley said, and Alexis stared at him, trying to analyze his expression to see if he was honestly serious about the 'alpha male' remark

"I thought you got along," she finally sputtered after a few moments.

"Yeah well, he signed on with another squadron, and never showed after a while. Of course I'm going to come in and take back my original position as pack leader," Riley muttered sullenly as he accepted his helmet from another 401st veteran, Jay Perkins. Perkins flashed her a smile before slipping his own helmet on and walking towards his F-22. "Davis is like a wild cat, ma'am. May appear harmless at first, but draw the teeth and claws out right when you're in striking distance. Watch your step, huh?"

"Thanks for the warning Riley, but where did that come from?" she asked, folding her arms loosely across her chest.

Riley shrugged. "Something about you, Davis, Stanton, Ari, and a bunch of other people has changed. Even Kina, even though she still hates my guts, seems a little different," he said, looking at her anxiously.

"Well then, don't worry, I've got it all under control," Alexis said, hoping her smile didn't looked forced. "Look, we're leaving in less than ten minutes. Finish getting ready," she said, diverting from the subject. Riley grimaced, but saluted anyway and left without saying another word. Then she turned around and continued her journey to the person she wanted to speak with now. Alexis narrowed her eyes as she approached Starscream and whom she assumed to be Thundercracker standing together. She could only imagine what they were talking about, but steeled herself to tread carefully; Thundercracker was using his Cromwell guise so any talkbacks would reflect poorly on her instead of him.

_T.C. It was the damn initial that was the biggest giveaway._

"Major?" she asked calmly, taking their attention and having them focus on her.

"Yes, Captain?" he asked, mirroring her tone.

"Lieutenant Davis needs to prepare for departure, as so do you," she reminded him calmly. She managed to keep the smirk from cracking her expressionless façade as she added, "Besides, your wife has been asking after you."

"Excuse me," he said, and then walked past her. She turned to watch as he smiled albeit slightly forced, and embraced Lisa as the woman eagerly hugged him.

"You want me for something?" Starscream hissed right by her ear, and she stiffened at his sudden close proximity.

_Keep it professional._

"Yes, just to remind you that we're departing soon…" she began, but shrank back when she realized that Starscream was in one of his moods.

"What did you tell them?" he snarled, approaching her in a menacing way; she was so startled that she started backing away to keep a measure of distance. "Forget that; _why_ did you feel the need to tell them that I was here?" he demanded, and she squeaked when she realized that she'd backed up into a jet's body. But before she could get a word in edgewise, he continued and said, "It is times like these that I wish I could just snap your damned neck and not feel anything for it. I originally thought I needed an ally who cooperated with me, but it seems that I erred, and now I have already decided which tact I'm going to try now. In fact…"

"Excuse me?"

Starscream didn't even bother to acknowledge the speaker; instead he uttered a few of Cybertronian curses before moving off and letting Alexis breathe once more. The woman that Lennox had named Jade Rivers raised an eyebrow as she watched Starscream walk away. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," she said softly to Alexis, who shook her head.

"No, actually you saved me; he was in the middle of one of his tempers," Alexis said, rubbing the back of her head. "Jade Rivers right?" she asked, and Jade nodded. "So, um, what do you fly?" she asked, noting the other woman's flight uniform. The only element that set it apart from the others was the small unfamiliar insignia on the breast pocket, and Alexis guessed that it might be connected to NEST.

"I am copilots with Erin," Jade replied, gesturing with her head to the silver plane that was already powered up and waiting for departure. Out of the corner of her eye, Alexis noticed that Skywarp was keeping a wary eye on the bomber while Thundercracker had positioned himself to keep an eye on it too as he knelt down to give Ethan Cromwell a hug. Richard and Lisa were standing nearby, Richard scowling as ever while Lisa looked teary-eyed.

"Are you coming with us to New York?" Alexis asked, turning back to Jade, who nodded.

"Colonel Stanton has something large in mind, and I think she's already told you. We were going to…" Jade began, casting a glance at the aforementioned colonel who was approaching them. "Ma'am," she said, saluting with Alexis copying her.

"Hate to break the party up, but people are powering up and you both have five minutes to go before departure," Stanton said, shooing Alexis and Jade to their respective planes. "Davis! Get your rear in gear and get a move on!" she shouted at Starscream, who waited until the colonel was safely distracted before flashing a rude human gesture to her back. "Major! _Let's go!_" Stanton shouted, and Ethan was released from the hug. The boy ran back to Lisa, and clutched her skirts as 'Cromwell' stood up again and kissed his 'wife' once more before turning to leave.

"Promise to call?" Lisa suddenly shouted after him anxiously.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," came the response, and Alexis pressed her lips together, wondering if 'Cromwell' would keep to his promise.

Probably not.

"I'll see you in New York, Captain," Stanton said, casting a wary glance around the hangar. "Keep an eye out for this Thundercracker character; Optimus thinks he'll be close to Skywarp and Starscream step for step."

Alexis gave a pointed look at Thundercracker as he made the appearance of climbing into the jet beside Skywarp and closing the hatch. She looked back at Stanton and nearly ground her teeth in frustration; the colonel had been momentarily distracted. "Yes, ma'am, I'll keep an eye out for Thundercracker," Alexis said calmly. She refrained from saying more; Starscream had yet to get prepped for flight and was still hanging around.

"Very well, Kina will be flying with you so I think that between three commanding officers you should be able to keep the squadron together in flight," Stanton said as she put her phone away. The device reminded Alexis of the one she still had.

"Ma'am, one more thing," Alexis quickly said as Stanton turned to leave the hangar. The older woman paused and gave Alexis her full attention as Alexis fished the cell phone out. "I think I picked someone else's phone up by accident, but there's no kind of identification on it. Do you recognize it?"

Stanton raised an eyebrow as she took the slim device from Alexis, and then narrowed her eyes, examining as though the phone was the cause of ninety-percent of her difficulties in life. "If this belongs to who I think it belongs to, the Defense Department is going to be short one person tomorrow morning," she said grimly. She looked at Alexis and said, "For some odd reason, people seem to think they can join anyone's operation without asking first. It is quite rude."

"It's Simmons, isn't it?" Alexis asked, smiling slightly.

Stanton snorted. "This isn't Simmons's work, he is more subtle than this," she said, pocketing the phone. "Just get ready to go… you're leaving in about three minutes!"

Alexis saluted and then turned to climb the ladder that had suddenly appeared at some point beside the jet. Starscream had already disappeared; he must've done it when Alexis was speaking with Stanton. She pulled her helmet on and ran through the preflight checks as the engine powered up. She regretted turning the inter-squadron radio on; doing so meant that she jumped right into an argument between Ari and Starscream. The other woman was calling him 'Davis', thankfully aware of the patchy security on the inter-squadron link. "Knock it off you two," she snapped, and then Ari threw in the last curse before quickly signing off.

"_**How dare she…"**_ Starscream began.

"Getting the last word in is important if you want to win," Alexis replied before signing off the personal link albeit keeping the inter-squadron link open in case further orders came in.

"_**All right ladies and gents, this is General Skye speaking. You should all be aware of who your flight partner is by now. We'll being taking off in pairs by rank. Major Cromwell and I will be going first, Captain Preston and her partner second, etcetera… you are all old enough to get it. The bomber is going to leave first, and then we'll all catch up,"**_ Kina ordered over the link, and all the engines simultaneously finally powered up. Technicians took that as their cue to evacuate the hangar to allow the pilots to leave the hangar without fear of injury. Then one more technician signaled Erin and Jade that they now had the all clear for departure before taking refuge inside the base.

"_**Wow, there's a bomber with us? I've always wanted to fly with one of those!**_" Riley suddenly shouted over the link, causing several pilots to swear at him for screaming in their ears. "_**I wanna meet the guys later!"**_

"_**Yeah Riley, and there are **_**girls**_** flying it, not guys,"**_ Ari shot over the link, her voice loud enough for all to hear.

"_**Well, now I remember **_**one **_**thing that I never missed about flying with the 401st"**_ Riley grumbled while Ari and a few others laughed.

There was a clicking sound, and Ari said in Alexis's ear, _**"Just to letcha know, you and I were assigned as flight partners… Screamer I think is with Warp."**_

"Copy that," Alexis replied, and she grinned when she heard Starscream's irritated sigh over the radio. At least she could react to his words any way she chose; he would only be able to hear her words, not see her reactions along with her words.

The bomber finally took to the skies, and the squadron now had clearance to depart. Alexis waited patiently for her turn, and felt as though the F-22 was just as eager to leave because the controls responded to the lightest touch as they finally lifted off again. The flight to New York was not going to be as long as the cross-country trip the 401st had made once two years ago. In fact, if she closed her eyes for a few seconds and focused on the bickering that had erupted over the link, she could almost convince herself that everything was as it should be two years ago.

"_**This is taking too long,**_" Skywarp suddenly announced, the abruptness of his announcement causing Ari and Riley to shut up long enough to listen. Outside the cockpit Alexis watched as the purple F-22 slowed down enough to lose a little altitude.

"_**Warp, you don't know the coordinates of where we're going so don't even think…**_" Thundercracker or Starscream, Alexis couldn't tell from those slightly garbled words, warned just as there was shimmer and next thing Alexis knew Skywarp was completely gone.

It didn't go unnoticed. "_**Someone please tell me that they saw that guy disappear!"**_ Riley yelled as Ari squealed in alarm as though someone had burned her. "_**Hello?"**_

"_**If I agree with you, will you promise to stop yelling at Motor and can it?"**_ another pilot, Tobias by the sound of it, asked while diligently ignoring Ari's cry of indignation. Alexis shut off the inter-squadron link, but checked to make sure that the link with General Skye remained open. She needed to be prepared to react to any of Kina's orders, but the other woman remained silent for now.

Skyfire, at least she assumed that's who it was, settled in the lead position, Kina's fighter keeping pace with him. The other pilots were more or less quiet when Alexis flicked on the squadron link again. Thundercracker instead of Starscream was on the receiving end of Ari's nonsense chatter this time, but Alexis cut in, reminding her partner that focusing on flying was more important than telling Thundercracker about the Sahara being the largest desert in the world. Ari spent a record thirty seconds obeying that order before asking Jay if he knew whatever happened to John Parker, in which Jay replied that he didn't know. Riley told her then that Parker had been aboard the _Lincoln_ when it was destroyed. Then the pair somehow went from talking about the _Lincoln_ to questioning Ari's loyalty to Tyler and the acceptance of his marriage proposal.

"Guys, knock it off already!" Alexis snapped over the link, trying to reign back in her temper. She frowned as the argument continued on the radio, as though Ari and Riley had decided then to be deaf and ignore what she said. "Guys?" she repeated, checking the link, which was open.

"_**I jammed your link because I wanted to talk,"**_ Starscream said somewhat bluntly. "_**We never finished our conversation back in Washington because of Aliskevicz and Maxwell, and you said that something happened when I left. What happened?"**_

She wasn't going to talk about that with him. Yes she remembered what he was talking about and no she wasn't ready go back to _that_. Especially since this was over the link Kina could easily cut in any time to listen in, jamming or no jamming. She summoned a deep breath and her courage before she said, "Lieutenant Davis, please stay focused your flight and refrain from unnecessary chatter." She reached for the button to disconnect the link.

"_**Don't you dare…**_" Starscream began, but she pressed the button anyway. She settled back in her seat, and steered her thoughts back to flying, wondering how long it would be until Starscream snapped and coerced her into cooperating with him again.

Meanwhile, in the next jet over, Ari tsked in disapproval. "Don't you know not to push a girl if she isn't ready? It makes her more resistant and more disagreeable. _I_ would know since _I _have worked with children before and I practically know Alexis inside and out," she said cheerily over the link.

"_**You're one to talk Aliskevicz, now why don't you stay out of this?"**_ Starscream grumbled over the link.

"Screamer, I double-dog dare you to make me listen to you," Ari said sweetly, and then did a fake gasp. "Oh wait, I forgot! You're not in charge _anymore_," she sang into the link, snickering to herself as she heard Starscream mutter a few choice words.

"_**Don't make me shoot you out of the sky,**_" he finally growled over the link.

"Go ahead. First, promise me you'll record Kina's reaction, 'cause I wanna see what happens when you do. Better yet, I wanna see you and your pals get routed out of here once Stanton figures out and tattles," Ari said, sounding like a whiny little girl for the sole purpose of aggravating him. She wondered what Transformer children, or sparklings as Ironhide had called them, were like, and if they could be as annoying as human children.

"_**I can't begin to tell you how much of a nuisance you've been over the last few days. You used to be helpful, but no longer,"**_ Starscream snarled over the link after a few moments of silence as he presumably brought his temper back under his control.

"Yeah, well, if I found that if I wasn't being a nuisance, then I wouldn't be doing my primary job. Right Riley?" she asked innocently, to which Riley responded by disconnecting the link between her and him. She sighed, and then said in a serious tone, "All kidding aside Screamer, no matter how secure the link seems, there's always the risk of an unwanted listener. Since Kina told her to keep her relationship with you professional, you're going to have to work hard to get her to talk about what it is that you want to talk about."

"_**What did Kina tell her to do?"**_ Starscream suddenly demanded, and Ari swore that the jet beside her moved dangerously close toward her before being jerkily pulled back into position. She frowned; she thought Alexis was next to her, not him…

"I think I just said something I wasn't supposed to," she muttered, but she knew he heard her anyway. There was a growl over the link, and she sighed. "Okay, okay, Kina is the one who told her to keep it professional between her and you, just so she can deal with the large amount of stress she's gotten lately. Speaking of which, Starscream, out of curiosity, what did you guys do to Tyrone? I swear on my honor that I won't blab."

"_**Skywarp still has him,**_" Starscream said somewhat bluntly, and Ari nodded silently. Of course she and Alexis wouldn't think to check Skywarp's cockpit. She had never seen him go into robot mode yet, and if he did, Starscream would gladly hold Maxwell as long as it meant that Alexis didn't catch on.

_Oh well. As they used to say, 'faint heart never won fair lady'… although Starscream may be taking that to the ultimate extreme_, Ari thought gloomily as she noticed that the lead planes were beginning to lose altitude, descending to a runway that she herself couldn't see. She opened another private link, disconnecting that the one with Starscream.

In the jet over, Alexis jerked as Ari's voice filtered into her ears. "_**I think that Skywarp's cockpit could use a serious bit of cleaning,"**_ Ari said nonchalantly before signing off altogether.

Starscream should count himself lucky that she was trying to keep their relationship professional. If she weren't trying, she would've chewed him out almost instantly after hearing that from Ari… once she'd deciphered her friend's cryptic words of course. Instead, she pushed it all out of her mind and gently guided the jet down to the ground. The gray pavement of the runway was slowly becoming visible, and she could see that Skyfire had landed along with the general, moving quickly to provide room for the incoming squadron. It was during cloudy days like these that made Alexis wonder why the hell whichever idiot was in charged decreed that the planes had to be dusty brown, gray or silver. The camo worked too well, and worked against them this time. It was autumn, so it was not unreasonable to expect cloudy weather. Stanton or whoever called for this flight in the first place was usually better about working with the weather. The silver bodies blended in with the sky as Alexis gently landed the F-22, and then slowed it down as the hangars came into sight. She would never tell Ari, but something about the flight had been off. Maybe it was because even though she knew it was the 401st with _most_ of their original teammates, Tyler Collins's absence was a subtle yet gaping hole in the fabric of the team.

A pair of orange lights and a technician was waiting at the end of the runway as she slowed the jet to a complete stop, pressed the commands in for the brakes and engine shutdown, she took her helmet off and placed it at her side. The hatch was raised as she spotted through the gray light a technician approaching with an armload of wheel blocks, to stop the jet from accidentally rolling away. Forgoing the ladder, she stepped out onto the wing and jumped out onto the tarmac. "Thank you," she whispered, taking three of the blocks from the man. He nodded, and then ran to assist the other incoming pilots.

She could hazily see the other jets coming to land as she put the blocks in place. She could faintly smell salt in the air, reminding her that this was Long Island and that they were near the ocean. Maybe, just maybe, if she asked permission and it was one of their days off, Kina would permit her and maybe Ari to take a trip to the ocean. Ari loved the ocean, but for Alexis it was a reminder of home. Every summer when she was younger brought the promise of a week trip to Acadia on Mount Desert Island in the southern regions of Maine, and she definitely hadn't forgotten the ocean then.

"Whew, what a flight!" she heard Jay say as he walked over to where a small group of pilots was forming. She smiled and, after checking the blocks one more time, she walked over to them in time to hear Riley's words.

"Well, we're all here and in one piece," Riley said happily as the last few squadron pilots disembarked. Alexis nodded in agreement as she walked over to where Kina was standing beside Jade, Erin, and a tall handsome man also wearing the NEST uniform. "No one aiming to shoot us from behind bushes this time," he added warily, looking around at the line of trees.

"Crowley set that ambush up, remember?" Tobias reminded them as he walked over, pulling his flight gloves off.

"That idiot is still around?" Kina asked, scowling at the mention of the Area 51 security captain. "I figured that he would've gotten fired at some point," she grumbled as Tobias came up beside Alexis and laughed.

"I think Stanton felt like keeping him just to irritate you," Tobias said, grinning while Riley rolled his eyes. "I heard that he once scared the hell out of Tyle… um, I mean scared the hell out of one of the 401st pilots," he said, catching his words in time and attempting to change his words, but he and the other pilots knew that the damage had been done.

Ari smiled weakly as they turned back to glance at her, and waved a little to acknowledge them. Then, as they turned back, she joined Alexis and laid her head on her friend's shoulder. "The longer I don't hear from him, the scarier it gets… Tom emailed me last week that Ty was still in medical care," she whispered, and Alexis patted her shoulder comfortingly.

"Not the smartest thing to say to a general… buddy," Riley finally said in response to Tobias's original remark, getting the last word with a tad bit of difficulty. He glanced around at everyone and said, "Well, I still miss Charlie, and Kina obviously doesn't miss Crowley, but everyone here looks a-okay and in one piece. No harm done."

"_Ahhhh!! Stop!"_ Ari suddenly screeched, popping up out from her placid guise and lunging for Riley's mouth. She ended up knocking him over, and the other pilots were laughing as Alexis hauled Ari up. Riley stared at the younger lieutenant, an incredulous expression on his face. "The last time, _you_ said 'no harm done', we were shot. Now you just jinxed us!" she hissed angrily.

"Actually Ari, that was you who said it last time," Jay ventured carefully, unwilling to divert the woman's wrath to him.

All color drained from Ari's face. "Oh, I think… I think I just jinxed us by saying 'no harm done' and saying that we're jinxed… I think we should all go in before someone gets hurt," she said, pointing a thumb over her shoulder to the hangar doors.

Kina laughed slightly. "Yeah, well, you can go, but you're going to have to come back out to guide your jet back into the hangar," she said as the group began to slowly split up; she'd received word en route that there were only four technicians available to help them with entry.

Alexis shook her head slightly in amusement as she walked back toward her jet. She hadn't seen Starscream nor Thundercracker join the circle, but with Decepticons, it could mean anything that she was better off not getting involved with. She unconsciously fell back into her high school habit of always watching her feet to ensure that she did not trip instead of looking up to ensure she did not walk into something.

Or in this case, to ensure that something didn't crash into her.

The grinding noise ahead was her first indicator of a problem, and Ari's second screech was her second. Her head snapped up in time to see that somehow, the jet had slipped free from between the blocks holding the wheel in place, rolling in a semi-horizontal direction. Alexis had worked around jets for most of her adult life, so the size wasn't so intimidating to her anymore, but the jet now seemed to tower over, threatening certain death if she didn't move. She remembered she could still move, and moved backwards swiftly, curving around the jet as she ducked underneath the nose. That wasn't necessary but for safety's sake she did it. She let out a breath of relief as the jet spun lazily away, freezing momentarily as the wing passed over her head, but then relaxed as it passed by harmlessly... only to jump back when something snapped and metal fell to the ground.

"_Sabotage!"_ Ari screamed from where she was standing across the tarmac, near the entrance to the hangars. The technician who had the misfortune of standing right next to her cringed away, clutching his ear. "_A full_ _freaking wing does _not_ just fall off like that!"_ she shouted, running over to the runaway jet and Alexis, who still looked alarmed at the accident that had happened in front of her. Kina, who had turned at Ari's first screech, was among the three who got to the stunned captain first, Starscream and Riley being the other two.

"Ari, you're exaggerating! It was just a few metal plates and one of the smaller missile launchers! Alexis _is_ fine!" Kina shouted back crossly as she reached the scene.

"What just happened?" Alexis asked, taking an automatic step back away from the wreckage as Riley accidentally collided with Starscream's solid hologram to avoid bumping into his captain. She threw an accusing glance at Starscream, who made the gesture of surrender before gently shoving Riley away. "I swear the plane was running fine earlier," she said as Kina came up, a frown etched into her features.

"It's all right ma'am, we'll fix it, and find the problem," a technician assured her as he studied the jet, which had stopped once Ari had gotten onto it and checked the codes for the brakes. Then she'd helped put the blocks back in place before sauntering back over to Alexis.

"All right, thank you. Ari, come on. I'll help you with yours," Alexis said, pointedly ignoring Starscream before half-dragging Ari away.

Starscream narrowed his eyes before walking back over to his earth disguise. Everything had been going right up to the point where Ari screamed and alerted Alexis to the fact that she was in danger. He had been expecting an error in his plan, but had expected it earlier in the day, when he cornered Alexis against his earth disguise in an apparent show of anger. He thought she would be smart enough to realize that she was pressed against the wrong jet, but Stanton had hurried them all along so she had just turned around and got in... like that.

He was long overdue with another check in with Megatron, keeping up the appearance of the loyal subordinate searching for the enemy. Megatron didn't know about Stanton's little plans, but Starscream did, and was preparing to take advantage of aforementioned plans to twist things to his benefit. That included playing dumb to knowledge of the plans once Megatron caught on. Starscream wanted to be in charge of the Decepticons, and it was tempting to sit back and watch Megatron and the Autobots go at each other, with the humans caught in the middle. The victors would the stronger party, so there was the reason why Starscream was on the verge of sitting it out... so he could rally to the victor. But Alexis Preston was what the humans called a wild card however, and Starscream _thought_ he'd had a surefire way of taking her out of the equation so he wouldn't have to join the fight either. But as this evening proved, it was going to be trickier than he originally anticipated.

"Doctor," he hissed up to the cockpit, checking around once to make sure that no one was nearby, especially the Aliskevicz girl. She had no reason to keep her mouth shut if she caught on. "_Doctor_, get down here now!" he snapped, impatient for the little Decepticon. He relaxed fractionally when the mini-Decepticon crawled over the cockpit, clearly happy at the fact he no longer had to disguise as flight instrument since Preston was nowhere near.

"Did it work?" Doctor hissed in Cybertronian, all the while wondering why Megatron had forced him to stay with the screechy second-in-command. Things had only gotten interesting lately when Starscream told Doctor to loosen up some of the bolts on the wings of Starscream's earth disguise, all for the intent of severely injuring the human female.

"No, we're going to have to try again," Starscream ground out, watching as Alexis and Ari both guided her jet in, Alexis inside the cockpit with Ari doing the dangerous thing of sitting on the edge of the cockpit, holding up the hatch with one hand. Kina seemed to be preparing a lecture for both women, and Starscream was considering on attending that one. He mused to himself as Doctor began working away at the loosened equipment out on the wing, tightening what he could without Starscream's help. A technician could have the honor of tackling the larger pieces, Starscream didn't mind. He could keep a closer eye out for Thundercracker's return from Canada; Skywarp had overshot again because he'd hacked the wrong general's computer before departure, so ended up with the wrong coordinates.

Speaking of which...

Megatron still had no idea of the whereabouts of Thundercracker, Skywarp or Barricade, which worked greatly in Starscream's favor. The hunter had come into contact with Starscream in Washington DC, saving Thundercracker from being exposed early in the game. All that needed to happen was for Megatron to stay in the ruins of the _Nemesis_ on the Earth's moon, his only line of contact being Soundwave.

As for Soundwave, Starscream _still_ had to figure out how to get seal that crack in the plan…

------------------

A/N: Thank you all so much for everything so far! :D


	20. On the Road

Twenty

On the Road

"If you don't mind me asking Colonel, but why were you at the Pentagon right before we left?" Epps asked, keeping a hand on Ironhide's steering wheel while looking at her. It was for show really since Ironhide hated people trying to direct him around. Epps's appearance was to keep the wary police officer on the road at peace, but there were times that Stanton forgot about Ironhide and barked at Epps to keep both eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel.

"I had to return lost property; one of my 'colleagues' in the Pentagon lost his phone and I was merely doing him a courtesy by returning it," she said mildly as she ruffled through manila folders of her information. After Starscream had crashed her computer, she didn't trust anything to electronics at the moment.

As for the cell phone owner, he seemed genuinely surprised to see the device in her hands, and, after a few threats, admitted that he did in fact poke his nose where it didn't belong. Stanton personally believed that the man wasn't going to heed her warning about pulling his rats out from _her_ operation or else, so she couldn't wait to get her hands on the idiots.

Well, she'll just drive her point home once she smoked all his agents out. She knew they were there: it was just a matter of _where_.

To increase her chances of successes, she had kept the phone, sufficiently distracting the owner long enough to make him forget about it again.

"What made you decide to join us out here on the road? Always thought you would fly with the rest of the pilots," Epps said carefully as he glanced back at the interstate highway that would take them to New York.

"I'm too old for the F-22s, plus my second-to-last promise to my husband was that I wouldn't risk my life flying again. Almost crashed the last time, and that was in '05," she replied calmly.

"What was your last promise?"

"That I wouldn't do anything stupid or rash, and that I wouldn't alienate my very few supporters in the government," Stanton answered. "My definitions of 'stupid' and 'rash' were somewhat different from his though."

"Meaning if they were the same you wouldn't have faked your death after Mission City?" Epps asked, still remembering how she'd waited out of sight at the dingy inn while the peace meeting was conducted between the Autobots and the Decepticons. He'd personally found it entertaining how she was able to stay with her pilots step for step even while pretending to be dead. That included passing herself off as one of the base's special ops task force members, and acting as a civilian while the pilots Collins and Preston had been in walking around DC looking for backup.

Stanton shrugged. "That was protection. The 'dying' part was the riskiest; White had Tom's weapon and the element of surprise and I was staring at him with my mouth hanging open," she said, glancing at Epps. "Fabricating some of the evidence was even harder."

"Well, you had Keller extremely convinced. I heard him telling Lansford once to not to proclaim you dead until your body was recovered and they were one hundred percent sure you were dead," Epps replied bluntly.

Stanton closed her folders and asked, "Do you know if Mrs. Cromwell and her brother returned home?"

"Um, I would think they would… the kid still has to go to school… right?" Epps asked.

"That is a good point," Stanton mused as she leaned back against the seat. "Now if I think if I remember correctly, Lisa told one of the aides that her brother, son and her were currently residing in New York City, which is _extremely_ counterproductive in the long run. Major Cromwell will have my head when he finds out that we inadvertently chose his wife's latest refuge as our next battleground."

"Then just pick a spot that isn't close to their house," Epps suggested, looking over at her again.

Stanton nodded absently, pulling out her cell phone. "Hopefully Lisa hadn't changed her cell number in the last six years," she said as she scrolled through her contacts list. "I never got a chance to properly speak with her when she was visiting Tegan earlier before we left, and the poor dear seemed a wreck at her husband's funeral," she continued as she selected the number on the list and pressed 'Send'. She made an angry gesture for Epps to watch where he was going as she listened to the phone on the other end ring.

"Fine, keep your conversation to yourself," Epps muttered as he checked the side mirror, just to make sure the twins weren't causing any mischief. Lennox had bravely volunteered to go with one of the twins, making Skids unhappy because it meant that Ironhide was going to be extra vigilant during this particular trip, and the repercussions were going to be worse than usual if something happened to Lennox, Skid's fault or not.

"Dead number," Stanton mused, shutting her phone. She leaned back in the seat and stared out the fields. "When they land," she said, Epps turning back to look at her, "remind me to call Major Cromwell and ask him where his wife is residing. I would feel awful if Lisa is caught in the crossfire."

"When was the last time you saw her, before recently?" Epps asked conversationally, turning to face her while taking a hand off the steering wheel.

"At Tegan's funeral back in '03," Stanton replied, looking at another sheet. "How are you two doing back there?" she asked without looking at the other two occupants of Ironhide's cab.

"Fine," Jeremy replied, not looking away from the travel magnetic checkers set as Simmons contemplated his next move. "You're good at this," he finally said as Simmons moved in to jump two checkers and make it to one of the king spots on the board.

"Yeah, well, there's not much to do when you're an ex-government supernatural agent working at your mom's deli, and it's Friday night and you're at home doing nothing because you're living at your mom's house," Simmons grumbled as he collected his two pieces. At Jeremy's puzzled glance, he said, "Living at your mother's house is not a distinguished thing to do if you're a guy and over thirty."

"Then I'm in luck because my mother probably isn't going to be coming and staying home until she retires," Jeremy replied frankly, and Simmons snorted.

"Which will probably be extremely soon, seeing that I want to pull my hair out in frustration more and more each day," Stanton said mildly, while Simmons snickered.

"So, _Toni_, when are we going to get to our destination?" Simmons asked, emphasizing her name, and Stanton once again wished that Lennox hadn't gone with her to make sure she'd follow on her promise to bring Simmons along. She'd had the excuse of 'he couldn't come because of prior commitments' all prepared to go, but was greatly dismayed to find that he was only too eager to come. Maybe she should take Alexis's suggestion to heart, and maybe consider reconciling with Simmons just to gain more advantage over the Decepticons.

Well, she'll do that once Simmons stopped calling her by her family nickname. Only her close friends could get away with calling her that.

"One, it's just four hours there at the most. Two, it's _Antonia_, not 'Toni', if you really insist on addressing me by my first name even though I still am higher up than you," Stanton shot back while Epps nodded in an appreciating manner.

"It seems that no matter the species, the femmes are always the most dangerous when provoked," Ironhide observed warily as Stanton returned to her papers.

"Amen to that," Epps muttered back, but cringed when Stanton spoke.

"I heard that gentlemen… 'femmes' have sharp ears too," she said without looking up.

"It's okay Ironhide… my sisters and brother and I helped sharpen those ears," Jeremy volunteered from the backseat, grimacing. He had taken the news of the Autobots' existence unusually calmly, even better than Stanton herself had. When she'd heard about the Autobots, she had demanded some kind of evidence right off the bat, something she could see and feel. Jeremy had just processed the information as though it was his next set of marching orders.

"That's right, you and your siblings were little beasts all right," Stanton muttered, her eyes narrowing as she studiously refused the two of them the satisfaction of eye contact.

"I'm guessing that's how you got better when it came to standing up to Simmons, Tom told me that Matt told him that you were scared of Simmons in the beginning," Epps said, knowing full well the figurative slaughter that was about to start.

"You were _scared_ of _me?_" Simmons demanded, leaning forward so he could look at her.

She scowled but didn't look up at him, answering, "I was being punished by my superior at the time, so of course I was frightened of anyone who waltzed into the employees' lounge, much less the son of his esteemed guest."

Simmons opened his mouth to counter that, but then shut it once he sensed that Ironhide was slowing down and pulling over to the side. "What the…" he began, but shut up once he saw the flashing blue and red lights in the rearview mirror. "Are we getting a ticket?" he asked as Ironhide sent two messages, one to Optimus and one to the twins. Optimus would have to watch the twins while Epps dealt with the police force. "Hey there hot stuff," Simmons suddenly said after the window had lowered to reveal a young female police officer with black hair pulled into a ponytail and with startling blue eyes.

"Is there a problem, officer?" Epps asked pointedly, hoping that she wouldn't be offended by Simmons's remark.

"I'm already spoken for," she said icily, dispelling any hopes that Epps might have had about her missing Simmons's remark. "As for you sir, I need to see your license and car registration please," she said, looking at Epps expectantly.

If Stanton had been sipping her customary coffee, she would've choked at the seemingly innocent request. Epps flashed an award-winning smile before asking, "Ms. Rodriguez, will you please get the car registration out of the glove compartment while I get my license?"

Stanton stared at him, wondering why the hell he hadn't thought to forge a car registration… for _exactly_ this kind of situation. They couldn't say there were on military business; the officer would then want to see more ID before thinking about whether she should let them go or not. She smiled thinly as she reached for the glove compartment, wondering what Epps would want her to do as he fumbled for his wallet to get his driver's license out. "Out of curiosity, why did you pull us over?" Epps asked conversationally.

"First, this truck had zero license plates. Second, I noticed that you were neglecting the road before you, allowing yourself to be distracted. Granted we do not arrest or cite people for being distracted, but I ask that you try to focus when driving, especially on a major highway," she said, turning her steady, unnerving gaze to Epps. "If you are exhausted, you can stop and switch drivers at the next rest stop, which is only for another mile, or you can switch here. Now, registration please?"

"Here," Stanton said, finally spotting the registration folder. So maybe Lennox had thought to get the papers just in case after all. She leaned back in her seat as Epps handed it over along with his license and military ID.

The officer pursed her lips as she turned and walked back to the cruiser with the identification. Simmons let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and then asked, "So, Ironhide, ever get pulled over before?"

"Yes, several times, all for no license plates. Those dratted things get in my way when I am trying to transform so I can better deal with the Decepticons," the truck grumbled, his deep voice coming in through the radio. "I don't understand the necessity for them."

"They're for identifying cars," Stanton said, lowering her folder and sagging back in her seat. "Didn't Lennox get any after the first time you two got pulled over?"

"Yes but they've either been taken off for NEST missions or they've snapped off when I transformed," Ironhide replied grumpily.

"That'll explain the twisted metal plates that shot off when we were tearing through Rome," Epps said in a knowing tone.

"Heads up, cop lady coming back," Jeremy warned, and Stanton frowned at her son's choice of words but decided not to reprimand him. They had about two and a half hours of privacy left for lectures.

"Everything checks out," the woman said, handing back the registration and licenses. "I'm guessing that you are a friend of Major Lennox's?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'll remind him about the plates," Epps assured her.

"Very well. Don't forget to switch drivers at the next rest stop if you're not going to do it now. Don't want to get caught again now, do we?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She looked momentarily up at Stanton, and then back at Epps. "Accident or arrest, it seems to me that you'll be risking much if something like that happened," she said, before turning on her heel and walking back to the parked cruiser.

Epps stared after her in confusion before turning back to Stanton. "Threat or warning?" he asked as Ironhide began to move under his own power once again.

Stanton mused over the woman's words as Simmons finally creamed Jeremy in checkers. "I'd interpret it as a threat, just in case. Now by whom, that's a whole other question," she said grimly, raising an eyebrow at Epps as Jeremy and Simmons started their rematch game.

"So we will be ready," Ironhide assented, keeping a wary signal out for any Decepticons. NEST kept a log of Barricade's positions for when he did resurface, and New York City was one of the locations. Of course, the cruiser had disappeared again after a fiasco in Mission City last year, an incident that involved federal agents and a poor target that had about three separate parties after him. Apparently, the man was extremely grateful once arrested; he could finally rest in prison without having to keep a constant eye on his back. But for now, there weren't any Decepticon signals, just an ordinary police cuiser

Stanton wondered then, what they had to look forward to when it came down to saboteurs and uncooperative Decepticons.

* * *

"_We are the champions, my friend, and we'll keep on fighting to the eeeennd!"_ Ari half sang half screeched as she popped up behind Riley's seat in the mess hall. Alexis laughed when Riley shouted in shock, spilling Coke all the front of his Nassau Bahamas T-shirt. What little singing there was, it was terribly off-key, and Ari moved on while singing and holding a glass of dark liquid in her hand.

"Christ, are you drunk or something?" Riley shouted after her as Ari twirled, her skirt flaring out. He snickered when she twirled right into someone else's table, getting a splotch of spaghetti sauce on her flower-patterned skirt. "Thank God you said to change into casual wear before lunch," he added to Alexis as Ari had the sense to put her drink down before encouraging Jay into a dance that might've been a waltz in another life. "Is she high on something?" he finally asked, glancing at Alexis.

"Nah, I think she's thrilled to be here with new people… plus that's her sixth glass of Pepsi tonight," Alexis answered as she lifted her own dinner out of the way as Ari and Jay moved past. "Besides, this is nothing. I've seen her worse on less caffeine."

"Then I feel sorry for the suckers who have to bunk with her tonight," Riley said, grinning broadly as Starscream entered the mess hall only to be caught up in Ari's whirlwind of energy, forming an unwanted trio with her and Jay.

"It's all right Riley, Alexis and I wanted to bunk with her," Marcia said in a saccharine tone before taking a sip of her harmless lemonade. She lowered her glass before yelling, "Davis! Just spin out of her arms when she twirls again! Works every time, I promise!" She and Alexis laughed however as Starscream escaped only to have Ari swipe at him, but fail miserably. Ari danced skittishly away from Jay before sweeping a mock grandiose curtsy.

"I want my Pepsi back," Ari said woozily as she returned to her spot beside Alexis. She rested her head on her palm and said, "I think I'm gonna be sick too…"

"Well, if you do, I'm one hundred percent sure you deserved it," Riley said judiciously as Jay sat down across the table from him.

Instead of being offended, Ari laughed with everyone else. Taking a sip of her water, Alexis cast a look past Ari towards the door, and paused in her motions as she saw something that struck her as unusual.

Tom Wilson was there, apparently trying to sneak in unnoticed. He walked stiffly on the edge of the mess hall, cane in hand as always. Behind him however, a much younger man followed carefully while attached to Tom. The man was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, indoors, but had all too familiar short light brown hair sticking up in different directions. He was unusually alert for a man on leave, yet was careful to keep a hand on Tom's gray sweatshirt. The man was also wearing gray fatigues, but even from the distance she was at, Alexis could see a familiar light-blue oval on his sleeve; the 401st colors and insignia. "Ari," she whispered to her friend, who turned to face her. "Check out who is here," Alexis said, discreetly gesturing to the two men as Riley craned his neck to get a better view.

Ari frowned, and then her eyes widened. "Plug your ears or go deaf," Riley warned, but it was unnecessary.

Ari stood up in her seat without shouting, carefully studying the man with Tom as Tom, seemingly unaware of the fact that he had attention drawn to them, began taking enough food for the two of them. The man however had noticed the sudden decrease in the volume level, and seemed to be looking frantically around the room. He became visibly panicked, and immediately released Tom's sweatshirt so that he could slowly make his way to the counter where Tom was standing. From there he looked around again, and Alexis could see that he was squinting as though to see them better. Sensing the man's predicament, Tom said without looking up, "Speak up Aliskevicz, he was using your voice to find you."

"_Tyler!_" Ari unexpectedly squealed, startling Tyler so badly that he fumbled with his grip on the counter and he yelped. In three bounds she was at his side and he was yanked away from the safety of the counter and Tom. He said a few incoherent things as Ari squeezed him tightly, and then pulled away. "Ty, you're thin as a stick. What happened?" she asked, aware of the audience behind her.

"Tom wouldn't feed me when I said I was still hungry," Tyler said, slight glee in his voice as though he'd been waiting for several long months to throw Tom under the figurative bus.

"We'll deal with him later, right now the whole gang is here," Ari said cheerfully, and Tyler went with her willingly. Tom rolled his eyes but followed with the two plates. "Are you really all right, all kidding aside?" she whispered.

"I'll tell you later, it's a bit of a story," he whispered back before kissing her lightly on the cheek.

"I guess you weren't lying about the whole engagement thing then after all," Riley observed as Tyler and Ari sat down. Alexis noticed that Starscream had vanished again, but shrugged it off.

"_That_ was something I would never lie about," Ari said sweetly as Tom sat down beside Tyler.

"How's it going Sarge?" someone asked, spotting Tom sitting there.

"The usual. Going to be steering clear of Stanton because there is no way that she can be here for a good reason. And drop the rank, I'm technically a civilian with medical knowledge who happens to know their patient on a good level," Tom said, gesturing with his thumb to Tyler. "Go easy on him Aliskevicz, he's still getting his eyesight back."

"I was blinded at Jordan… it _killed_ but here I am," Tyler chirped, still keeping his steady gaze on Ari, whom he was slightly leaning on as well as vice versa.

"Well, let's see if you remember everyone," Riley said cheerfully. "There's me, Marcia Williams, Tobias Jackson, Alexis Preston, Jay Perkins, Ari obviously, Stryker Davis, Kina Skye…"

"Who's Kina?" Tyler interrupted, looking at his fiancée with curiosity. Alexis knew that the engagement was a done deal, as for the wedding, she didn't know. Ari was about to go off again, and there was always the shadowing possibility that she wasn't going to come back.

"Kina is of the four-oh-first's crazier women," Riley muttered darkly as Alexis swiped at him playfully. "Ari and Stanton tie in for a close first though…"

"As long as I'm _first_," Ari retorted, grinning when the others laughed. "Kina is one of my friends on the squadron. She was transferred before you arrived, that's probably why you haven't met her," she added, turning to face Tyler instead of Riley. "She's really nice, don't listen to a negative word that Riley says about her."

"Take the description like this; from a distance you can easily mistake her for Stanton except for when they're standing together, she's _our_ general now, she, um, I'm going to shut up now," Riley said, his voice trailing off once he realized that not only Kina but Stanton had entered the mess hall now. Tom, spotting them, slowly hunched his shoulders forward and pulled his sweatshirt hood up as though to conceal himself from the colonel's hawkish gaze as her eyes swept the pilots' table once before she turned to face Kina.

"When did she get here? I thought we were going to have another couple of hours alone!" Riley hissed as a few NEST personnel, including a few holograms. He turned slightly pink as one of the women entered, and then ducked his head down

"Looks like they're having a Big Important Meeting," Ari said, sarcasm lacing her voice as Tyler straightened to eat his own dinner. Ari speared a piece of broccoli, and studied it intently. "Riley, how fast can you whip up a slingshot?" she asked casually.

"You can't shoot broccoli at a general!" Riley said, visibly shocked at the possibility. Ironic, considering he once did throw food at Stanton during a food fight two years ago at Area 51.

"Who said I was going to do it? I was just going to provide the ammo," Ari said, gesturing to the broccoli as Starscream discreetly sat down on Alexis's other side.

"I'm _not_ shooting vegetables at Skye _or_ Stanton!" Riley hissed.

"Fine, then get one of the Autobots. I'd recommend Ironhide because his sense of humor is legendary," Ari countered, smiling sweetly.

"Alexis, I need a second," Starscream whispered, causing Alexis to flinch at the sudden proximity. Waving Ari off for a moment, she turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What is it, lieutenant?" she asked politely.

Starscream refrained from visibly snarling at the reminder of the formal interaction between them. Well, two could easily play that game, he would just have to wait for the best opportunity to twist the rules to his advantage. "Our missing friend returned with Major Cromwell, and he has a bit of a problem with a certain pilot of ours," he said in a stiff formal tone, reminding Alexis horribly of the time when they'd first met, and he'd been constantly hostile towards her.

"Very well, Lieutenant Davis, lead the way," she instructed, getting up from the table. She missed Tyler's quizzical look as they left.

"I always thought that Davis and Preston were an item," Tyler whispered as he heard the pair leave the table. "Are they fighting or not together anymore?"

"That's an excellent question, especially since there's this guy, Tyrone Maxwell, who was going to _propose_ to Alexis before he went missing," Ari whispered conspiratorially.

"Well, if he does propose, and she accepts, you two can have a double wedding. Girls _always _get excited over stuff like that," Riley said dismissively as he continued picking at his food.

"Well, Stryker isn't going down without a fight. Trust me," Ari said so confidently that Riley didn't dare challenge her further.

Alexis had a pretty good idea what her comrades were talking about as she drew her arms around herself while following Starscream down the hall to the hangars. She managed to refrain from asking questions however when they entered the hangar to find a frost-covered purple jet, and Skywarp's hologram standing near the one of Major Cromwell.

"Well, I just want it out of me before it discharges through its mouth again," Skywarp was saying disgustedly as Alexis approached them. He turned to see her, and scowled. "Just get it out and I promise to behave from now on," he snapped grumpily.

Starscream let out a short breath before berating Skywarp. "I thought I told you that the human body cannot handle much of whatever you were using to keep him quiet," he snapped quietly as Alexis moved around them and grabbed a ladder.

She ignored Skywarp's yelp of pain as she let the ladder clang against the side of the purple jet, causing ice flakes to fall down. "Dare I ask where you went?" Alexis demanded loudly, determined to interrupt the argument between Starscream and Skywarp.

"To the north of some place called 'Quebec'. The people got unusually excited when they saw me land; apparently I'm also on some World Web site called 'Facebook' and an image of myself went around… although I'm not sure how it got on there in the first place," Skywarp replied, his irritation at Starscream momentarily forgotten.

Alexis bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud as she turned around to face the iced over cockpit hatch. The thin sheet of ice prevented her from seeing inside, but her determination kept her going as she used three fingers to rub at the ice sheet. It may not make much of a difference, but she remembered when she was a child and it was time of the first frost. A few rubs on the car window usually melted the ice crystals enough to peer inside the window. Once Skywarp's window had a small patch of visibility, she looked in, but to her dismay, she was unable to find anything.

"_Yeow!"_ Skywarp yelped as she slammed a fist onto the control panel to crack the ice. "What the slag?" he demanded, turning on his heel only to scowl when he realized that she was trying to open the cockpit. "You know, you could just _ask_ for help," he added loftily as Thundercracker began shaking his head.

"She's a female, and if there's one thing I've noticed about the females of the human race, they insist on doing everything themselves," he observed dryly as Starscream nodded in agreement.

Before Alexis could shoot back a witty response to that, there was a _click_ and the hatch managed to pop open, spraying ice shavings everywhere. She didn't get a chance to raise an arm to defend herself, and then she let out a short scream as a loud moaning came from the cockpit accompanied with an outreaching hand. Her flinch however caused her to lose her balance, and for one horrible moment while in freefall she was sure that Starscream was not inclined at the moment to prevent her from slamming her back against the floor.

She was right.

"Ow! Aw _shit_," she swore, rolling over and placing a hand on her spine while glaring balefully at Starscream as he knelt down beside her. She ignored his offered hand and stood up, swaying slightly as she rubbed her spine. That would probably leave a mark. "What the hell?" she began, backing up so that she could see the figure that was slowly climbing out of the cockpit before flopping onto the nose of the jet.

"Right. I forgot to mention this, but he snuck out and I had to chase him down a bit. Then he got sick en route," Skywarp added as an afterthought.

"You'll be cleaning yourself then," Alexis snapped without thinking. Her mind was completely focused on the man and what he was doing. "T… Tyrone?" she demanded hopefully, raising her voice so that he could hear her.

That proved to be a mistake. He was so startled that his hand slipped and he lost his balance. Panicking, Alexis ran to catch him, which was her third major error for the evening. Tyrone, it was definitely him because Alexis could vaguely see his facial features, was heavier that she originally calculated. She tried unsuccessfully to catch him, break his fall, only to be knocked down again. She gritted her teeth in pain as something in her back twisted painfully, and then not so gently pushed Tyrone off of her.

"Aw come on! Don't you think I've had enough? I get it, no… more… sneaking… off," Tyrone's unmistakable voice said before he let himself collapse.

The three Seekers had conveniently disappeared. "Tyrone?" Alexis asked as she cautiously approached his form, her back protesting as she got up and knelt by his side, placing careful hands on his back.

He twisted around violently, clearing expecting someone malevolent. Alexis stepped back in shock; his face had been scratched up and he seemed to be having difficulty breathing. His terrified expression however softened when he saw who it was. "Alexis?" he finally croaked out, reaching out to her with one shaky hand.

Alexis stepped forward and took his hand into hers before kneeling down so that they were face to face, to reassure him that she was actually there. She didn't know what the purple seeker had done, or the other two for that matter, but _someone_ was going to be hurting in the morning… for sure.

She pulled out her cell phone and hoped that Riley would be able to hear his phone over the noise that Ari was most likely creating at the moment. As the other phone rang, she placed a hand behind Tyrone's back and carefully laid him down straight on the ground. She used her jacket as a sort of pillow as there was a click, announcing that Riley had picked up. "_**Captain?"**_ he asked, curiosity evident in his tone.

"Riley, I need your help now," she said, silently cursing her little medical expertise. She hadn't taken a refresher course in years, mainly because she'd neglected to attend the refresher courses offered monthly by the doctor available at the time.

"_**All right, I'll be there in a second."**_ Riley replied before hanging up.

Alexis drew her arms around her knees and began to wait for Riley to show up.


	21. Serenity

Twenty-One

Serenity

Getting Tyrone to the medical wing was a challenge in of itself. Twice he lashed out at both Riley and Alexis, assuming it was his captors hauling him off somewhere. Irritated at the constant swipes, Riley finally smacked Tyrone hard enough to shut him up but light enough not to cause possibly more permanent damage. Then he ignored Alexis's sharp reprimand at the treatment. Alexis could now only wonder what exactly Skywarp had done, and decided to interrogate him at the first moment when Thundercracker, Starscream or Ari weren't around to protect him from her.

"I assure you, Captain, that he will be fine with a lot of rest and medical treatment," the doctor said as he placed a washcloth on Tyrone's forehead. Alexis remained expressionless, a stark contrast to the myriad of emotions displayed on Riley's face. "The lieutenant here is lucky to be alive, whatever he's been doing has taken quite a toll on him so he will take a while to recover," the doctor continued, his disapproval visible for her to see. He looked up at her expectantly, as though expecting to hear something specific from her.

"I was not aware of this disappearance. When he wakes up, I… I will ensure that he is disciplined accordingly," Alexis finally said, feeling two sets of eyes on her. Whether she actually followed through with it was another question, but only Riley knew of her previous relations with Maxwell.

"Permission to speak freely Captain," Riley said somewhat bluntly, watching her face carefully.

"Permission granted. What is it lieutenant?" Alexis asked as the doctor walked over to the counter to pull out another set of medicine boxes from the cupboards.

"Lieutenant Maxwell has been missing for several days, then he randomly shows up tonight in that hangar. Would it be reasonable to assume that he's been skirting duty? And if so, how much favoritism will you be showing once he's caught?" Riley asked, and Alexis was forcibly reminded of the charade she would have to maintain once Tyrone was conscious again. Ari could not be relied on for support; her barely veiled indifference to Tyrone's fate showed Alexis that the lieutenant had failed to gain Ari's favor. Riley did not know the scope of the whole situation, so she really couldn't say to him, 'I can't punish Tyrone because he was kidnapped by a trio of alien Decepticons who can turn into F-22 jets'. No wonder Riley wanted freedom of speech with that last question; it was borderline insult to a superior officer.

"No, there will be no favoritism. Now, a question for you Mackerson; are you particularly looking forward to seeing Maxwell get into trouble, or are you honestly that concerned about the fair implementation of the American justice system?" Alexis asked, her tone slightly mirroring Riley's.

"Touché, ma'am," Riley replied, raising an eyebrow. He was a quiet for a moment before muttering, "Ari and that guy Scott have bets going on over whom you're going to choose. Just thought you should know."

"How much money do you have staked in it?" Alexis snapped, her sharp voice causing Riley to flinch.

"Believe it or not, I'm sitting this one out. With all due respect, ma'am, you're somewhat too unpredictable in _that_ department for me to risk cash over it," Riley replied as the doctor finally inserted the IV line into the inside of Tyrone's elbow.

"Lieutenant Maxwell will have to be out of commission for a while," the doctor said, not caring about butting into the conversation. "I will write him up as wounded in action for now, just to deflect questions from that viper you have for a colonel."

"Stanton's going to take offense at that," Riley warned. "Not at the fact you're keeping this from her, but the fact that you comparing her to a snake. She likes big jungle cats as opposed to slithery reptiles."

"Which is why that's staying between the three of us," the doctor retorted coolly, a needle still in his hand and in a somewhat threatening position.

"Captain, I feel threatened," Riley said, taking a step back from the sharp needle.

"Cut it out," Alexis snapped slightly to the doctor, who waved the needle in Riley's direction as a warning before turning to face the counter again.

"That will be all, Captain, Lieutenant," the doctor finally said as he turned around again, his eyes still narrowed from their previous confrontation. They all stood there for another moment before the doctor repeated pointedly, "That will be _all._"

Alexis sighed and checked her watch. It was early enough to be a decent time to go to bed without raising concerns. She glanced at Riley and said, "Lieutenant, if anyone asks for me, please inform them that I will be unavailable for the rest of the night." Without another word, she turned on her heel and left the medical wing before Riley could reply.

Alexis shut the whole issue of the outside world outside of her mind, placing her hand on her forehead when she sensed the oncoming headache. The flight over had done a massive drain on her energy reserves, and it didn't help that she was trying to stay out of leaders' ways as they threatened to collide into each other. It also didn't help that Starscream was being unusually difficult when it came to cooperating with her either. She frowned to herself as she gently tugged the elastic out of her hair, the brown waves falling down to frame her face. She hadn't cut her hair in a while, silently defying military regulations, but was careful to pull it back tight enough to pass off as acceptable. She unclipped the small communicator that kept her in the link with Kina and Stanton and clicked 'Off', knowing full well how upset at least Stanton would be once the colonel figured out that she had cut the communication links.

Alexis gritted her teeth as she felt a slight twinge in her back. There was no way she was going to be flying anytime soon. Forget about getting caught while in this condition by one of the commanding officers, she didn't think she was in peak condition for flight anymore.

Once the doctor was finished with Tyrone, he could maybe help her with a physical, see what her current stamina was, and determine whether it was safe for her to fly again.

She slid her card through the ID machine before slipping into her quarters, the door silently closing behind her. Her two roommates, Ari and Marcia, were not there yet and Ari hadn't unpacked yet; the worn satchel was still visible on the top bunk above Alexis's bed.

With a _whoosh_ Alexis let her body fall onto the bed, gratefully savoring the cushiony surface. She closed her eyes, willing her mind to forget everything she'd dealt with in the last couple of days. As she tried to move however, the stiffness of her clothing rubbing against her limbs grudgingly reminded her about the fact she was still wearing not very good lounging clothes. Somehow, she found the energy to pull her self up from the bed and poke around in her small pack, finding a worn T-shirt and sweatpants. She fumbled slightly while getting the clothes on before finally falling back onto the pillow and mattress and falling asleep.

It felt like she'd been asleep for hours, and when she abruptly woke up in the darkness of the room it felt like it was midnight. She blearily rubbed her eyes, noting that the blanket had magically found its way over her body. She held her breath, listening for either Ari or Marcia breathing. Ari's muffled snores were barely heard above her while

"Do you remember back two years ago, when your jet was destroyed because Rad White tinkered with it, thinking I was you?" Starscream's quiet voice cut into the silence, causing her to flinch in surprise. She sat up abruptly and stared in the corner where she heard his voice, and then slowly folded her elbows on top of her drawn up knees. She saw his eyes, which were twin red pinpricks to her, studying her and she mentally struggled not to look down in humility.

"I remember," she replied quietly, a flash of the remembered heat searing across her memory.

"Do you remember when word had arrived that someone had come to finish the job with Wethersfield and Kowalski?" he asked, looking away now at something in the dark that Alexis and her weak human eyes couldn't see.

"Yes, I remember," she replied, wondering where he was going with this. A quick glance to the LED clock revealed the time to be eleven forty-five.

"Do you remember when the barracks roof collapsed, burying you in the rubble and then awaking a day later in the hospital?" Starscream continued quietly, and she heard him shifting so that he could comfortably face her again. It was eerie, to see only his eyes in the dark while the rest of his outline. Considering that she felt no weight on the bed when she cautiously ventured a sock-covered foot over to where she assumed he was sitting, she guessed that he was not using the matter projector.

"Yes Starscream, I remember," she said patiently, quick to cut off the sarcastic remark that had been forming on her lips when he mentioned the hospital. No need to bring up the fact that he'd tried twice to do just that in the last five hours. _Starscream, what are you playing at now?_

"Do you remember the brief peace we had in the gardens before Maxwell arrived?" he asked, still watching her.

_Starscream, this is getting more and more bizarre. What do you want? _"Yes… I remember," she replied quietly, and if she closed her eyes she could still picture the scene in her mind. She'd thought they were repairing their relationship then. Now she wasn't so sure.

This time, when he moved, she could feel his weight through the blankets. "I know what you're thinking… the threats from earlier today," he said, his voice closer to where she was sitting now.

Well, she hadn't been thinking about it, but now that he brought it up she did remember the constant threats, one right after another. "You tricked me into getting into your physical form. Just so that I was in the right place to be targeted when we landed," Alexis murmured, wondering why she hadn't seen it before or no one called him out on it. "Since we had a few more jets than usual, you figured it wouldn't be odd for one to be missing because no one would think to count before departure. You were online enough to have a decent conversation with anyone but offline enough to let me do the actual flying."

"Bravo," Starscream said softly in the dark. "If I'm not careful, you'll soon be able to stay with me step for step. Yes, I did do that. It was nice to not be the one flying for once."

"That doesn't explain why you tried to kill me, a superior officer, but in this case you should obey my command or I will expose you," Alexis coolly reminded him. She tilted her head and stared right back in his eyes. "Oh wait, I forgot. Targeting superior officers is something that you apparently do on a regular basis… _hey!"_

As soon as the words had been leaving her mouth, Starscream had unexpectedly lashed out and snatched her wrist only to turn it an awkward direction, rendering her speechless. "While I happen to do that with Megatron, you may rest easy knowing that I would not try to unseat you, your position is low enough to protect you from any harm from me," he said in an unusually low and dangerous voice. "Now listen. Anything I did against you was to prevent you from becoming Megatron's next target. He wants anything to use against me."

"Funny form of protection," Alexis hissed out through gritted teeth.

Starscream shook the insult off. "Scalpel is the name of a Decepticon that is slightly smaller than Frenzy was. He takes on the form of a flight instrument or a microscope, all depending on his surroundings. He is here within these walls, but Thundercracker and Skywarp are keeping an optic on him for now."

"So? How does that have anything to do with what happened today?" Alexis countered, finding it hard to believe Starscream.

"I feel threatened. I know that Megatron is using Scalpel to watch me, to watch for any signs of weaknesses. I tried to hurt you slightly today, enough to convince the conniving little spy that I wanted you dead and enough to keep you out of what Stanton has in mind. As we both know, I failed today. So I will be trying again," he replied casually, and he looked forward again toward the opposite bunks.

"Well, now that I know, I know what to watch out for," Alexis whispered back fiercely.

"Yes, but as the humans put it, the third time is the charm," Starscream replied with a slight smugness in his tone.

"What's your bone with Maxwell?" Alexis asked, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

He didn't seem fazed at all by her change in topic by the question. "I decided to release him because he no longer posed a threat," he replied in a quieter tone; they were both quiet as a snuffling sound came from the bunk above before the blankets rustling alerted them to the fact that Ari was turning over in bed. Alexis bit back a small giggle as Ari mumbled something about conquering giant alien robots in her sleep before falling quiet again. Satisfied that Ari wasn't going to make another peep, Starscream continued, "He was the one who forced Thundercracker into a series of awkward positions. He was the one who forced Thundercracker to take his role as the major more seriously than necessary. Maxwell came too close for our comfort. But Skywarp needed to be able to defend himself without worrying about where the human was. Maxwell will be unable to threaten us for now."

Alexis raised an eyebrow before slipping out from underneath the covers. "So you never felt threatened by him because of me did you?" she asked, moving so that she too was on the edge of the bunk and staring in his direction.

"Of course not!" Starscream hissed back indignantly.

"Then why couldn't this conversation have waited until morning? Or are your lieutenants not good enough keeping Scalpel distracted then?" she shot back, her voice increasing a bit.

A low hiss came from Starscream and she interpreted that as she'd just crossed another line. Before he could say anything however, Ari cut in, saying blearily, "Alexis?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Screamer in here?"

Alexis raised an eyebrow at Starscream's hologram, who shrugged nonchalantly, before asking, "No, what makes you say that?"

"I think I had too much Coke at dinner; I had this dream where you and Screamer were chatting and I thought I had woken up only to hear you two talking about Tyrone being a threat and all and I was thinking, 'Crap, I'm still on a caffeine buzz because you're talking about Maxwell like in my dream' but if you say he isn't here, then he isn't here and I was hearing things," Ari said, moving so that she was hanging off of the bunk a bit to look at her friend. How she missed Starscream's faint hologram sitting a bit off to her left was beyond Alexis's comprehension at the moment due to the lateness of the hour. "You look like hell," she finally said.

"Yeah, well, you're going to feel like hell if you don't let me go back to sleep," Alexis replied in a slightly grumpy tone.

"Ooh, I'm scared," Ari retorted and fell quiet for a record sixty seconds. "Did Riley tell you that Skywarp and I were betting between Screamer and Maxwell?" she asked, gingerly moving her hands to brush her hair out of her face. All Alexis had to do was kick the bottom of the upper bunk, where she estimated Ari's stomach to be. Then Ari would be displaced enough to either fall or take a hint.

"Yeah, Riley told me. Dare I ask who you're supporting?" Alexis asked.

"Screamer. Warp thinks it's going to be Maxwell, especially when Riley came back saying that Maxwell resurfaced," Ari said, her voice dipping into sarcasm slightly toward the end of her sentence.

"Ari, about feeling like hell in the morning…" Alexis warned as she leaned on her back and raised her foot so that Ari could see the intended target and the complications it presented for her.

"Wake up Marcia and you're dead meat," Ari warned, but panic laced her words.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven…" Alexis began pointedly.

"_Fine_, good night to you too," Ari grouched as she pulled herself back up. There were a few more seconds of muttering before Ari fell quiet again.

"That's interesting, I didn't know there was a bet going on," Starscream mused aloud after Alexis straightened again.

"Yeah, well, don't let it get to your head. I hate how I'm the center of it all," Alexis grumbled but froze when she felt him unexpectedly kiss her forehead lightly.

"I shall look forward to competing. Good night, Alexis," he said quietly before disappearing altogether. Alexis knew he was gone when she felt his weight disappear completely from the bed.

She lay down and slipped under the blankets again. Only this time, she couldn't sleep, as her mind was too preoccupied with the constantly changing near future.

* * *

"How was the flight over?" Rose asked as she settled down in a chair in the mostly empty hangar. Her copper hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, and she had changed out of her old paramedic uniform into a clean, black NEST field uniform. The only insignia on it was an oval patch of a white caduceus against a red background.

At the mention of the flight, Jade smiled at the memory as Erin covered her mouth to smother a snicker. "It was actually uneventful," Jade said, folding her hands on and resting them on her knee as she leaned against Skyfire. Her hair was loose, and she had changed out of her flight uniform. "The way Colonel Stanton was acting before departure, one would have expected a fight in the air."

"There was actually a fight or two, just with words instead of weapons," Erin reminded her as she flicked a wayward strand of strawberry-blond hair out of her eyes, and Jade nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean by that?" Rose asked curiously, straightening in her seat.

"I mean that it was like listening to a soap opera during three-quarters of the flight," Erin replied as she pulled her leather flight gloves off and placing them on the crate she was sitting on in a very relaxed manner. She was in fatigues, but had kept the gloves on up until now. Skyfire's hologram appeared beside Jade, who turned slightly pink before looking back at Rose. Erin continued, "General Skye asked us that we keep a team link open in case orders came in, so we were treated to a few arguments that erupted over the link.

"The one over gambling terms was an amusing one; Williams was negotiating with Mackerson over some bet that had been made before take-off," Skyfire said in his gentle tones, his blue eyes twinkling.

"This squadron is notorious for gambling, I've seen it the last time I worked with them," Rose replied, leaning forward, by placing her elbows on her knees.

"Anything eventful happen on the drive here?" Jade asked as she raised her chin.

"Ironhide got pulled over by the police because he didn't have license plates," Rose replied, a smile cracking on her face. "We… we got a warning from one of the cops who apparently had an idea about what we're were going to do," she added, her smile fading slightly as the hangar door opened. She turned, and smiled again when she saw Ratchet's hologram walking in, Optimus, Lennox, and Epps behind him.

"Hello ladies, Skyfire. What are we chatting about?" Epps asked flirtatiously as he walked up so he could lean against the bomber.

"Ironhide getting pulled over," Rose replied as Lennox snorted.

"Yeah, I remember that for sure," he said as he pulled up another chair for himself and Optimus, to which Optimus politely declined. "_We_ were talking about our contingency plan, in case Stanton overreaches herself this time," he said, the traces of humor fading from his face.

"You think it might happen?" Rose asked, remembering very well what had happened the last time Stanton had 'overreached'.

Lennox nodded. "We're relying on her word that she has permission from the Secretary of Defense to be doing this. I don't trust her that much," he said, glancing from Optimus to the women then back to Epps.

"Did you have a plan in mind yet?" Erin asked curiously as she straightened up to see Lennox better.

"No, I'm still working on it. All NEST personnel would have to emerge unscathed from any legal damage incurred by Stanton's plans. Something to sleep on," Lennox said grimly, scanning each face present. "If we fail, well, let's hope we don't," he finally added after a few seconds of silence.

Rose felt her body grow cold at the implied warning of failure, and swallowed nervously. She only felt marginally better when she felt Ratchet take her cold hand in his and squeeze it gently in reassurance.

* * *

A/N: Question: Does anyone know what Graham's first name is? I checked the Transformers Wiki and the IMDB, but neither website had it. I used to know it, but I forgot. :(


	22. Spreading Wings

Twenty-Two

Spreading Wings

_**0850 hours**_

_**November 20, 2009**_

_**Suffolk County AFB, Long Island NY**_

The next morning, after puzzling over Starscream's words for a while, Alexis ran into Stanton before she could find the Decepticon. The colonel looked as tired as Alexis felt, so Alexis decided to let Stanton speak first. They were both in the kitchen of the mess hall after breakfast hours, Alexis stealing some food for later while Stanton was leaving with filched coffee.

"Rough night?" Stanton finally asked, leaning against the counter. She was wearing her favorite gray uniform that had the USAF logo on the front, and the old 401st insignia on the right armband. Alexis felt slightly out of place, wearing her casual clothes of jeans, T-shirt, and the camo jacket. No one had specified clothing for the day, and it was highly unlikely that they were going to do any flying. Alexis was still planning to push for a flight approval later though.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. You?" Alexis asked, looking pointedly at the coffee.

"Woke up to hearing Simmons yelling at someone. That's enough to send my morning down the tubes," Stanton said, shrugging. "Now I get to battle Simmons in the effing boardroom all over again while somehow pushing this operation forward with Lennox. He's still hesitant to go ahead until I put all cards on the table. Fun."

"On the plus side, you can bring in a weapon, unlike the Pentagon" Alexis reminded her.

"Kina asked that I do this meeting with as little threatening as possible. Actually, let me amend that. She _ordered_ me to do this with as little threatening as possible," Stanton said.

"Oh… what are you guys covering?" Alexis asked, wondering if she should have known about this yesterday and was expected to show up.

"The op in a couple of days," Stanton said mildly as she sipped her coffee. She placed a hand out to stop the words from leaving Alexis's mouth and said, "General Skye and I reached a consensus of opinions that you should stay behind and guard the facility. Collins is still receiving treatment, and Wilson isn't as young as he used to be. Handling the defense equipment isn't easy, and this base was mostly empty except for cleaning personnel when we arrived. There isn't enough time to call in more personnel to help defend the fort."

Alexis remained quiet, stunned by the colonel's words. "Did Screamer coerce you into it?" she finally demanded, his words from the night before flashing through her mind. Her breakfast forgotten, she placed her hands on her hips and glared at the colonel.

Stanton didn't seem fazed. "He didn't coerce us into anything, just gave us a very persuasive argument to see things his way. I was a little careless with my words and audience, and he thought it would be advantageous. I would have done the same thing in his position, so I can't blame him now can I?" she answered as she absently stirred her coffee.

"Blackmail?" Alexis asked. Stanton nodded, shrugging slightly.

"Like I said, I would have done the same thing if I were in his position," Stanton repeated.

"You're taking this awfully calmly."

"Panic never got a person anywhere but deeper trouble," Stanton replied, but her brows furrowed as though betraying her agitation. Alexis could tell that being at a Decepticon's mercy was not on Stanton's to-do list, but there had to have been more strings attached to the agreement than Stanton let on. "I once spoke with Ironhide about Starscream. Said that Screamer was a pain to even the Decepticon leader. For some reason, I wasn't surprised," Stanton said, locking gazes with Alexis.

Alexis was quiet as she processed this. "Fine, I'll do as asked," she said, and Stanton visibly relaxed. As the colonel began to leave, Alexis asked, "Ma'am, permission to leave for a short test flight? My wing suffered damage and I'd like to test it out as soon as possible."

"Just be careful and stay within the area, as in nowhere near civilian airspace. After Mission City and New York before that, Americans don't particularly like it when they see aircraft flying too close for comfort for no apparent reason," Stanton warned before taking her coffee and walking away. She paused in her tracks, turned on her heel, and added, "Please, for the love of God, be careful. I want you to have at least one other _competent_ pilot out there to assist you if your jet is still incapable of flight."

"In the air or on the ground?" Alexis asked.

"In the air, Einstein. Pilot is going to be pretty useless if he or she is hanging out on the ground and your systems are failing," Stanton said, narrowing her eyes briefly. There was a moment of silence between them, and Stanton said as an afterthought, "Leave Starscream and his cohorts alone, they're in recharge or whatever and we need this time to plan."

"If you're so worried about eavesdroppers, leave electronics out of the room and get off topic regularly throughout the meeting," Alexis suggested. "Where's Tyler? Ari is around, she and Ty can keep the Seekers occupied."

"I'm worried that Starscream might resort to target practice as a way of getting rid of Ari, especially if she riles Skywarp up. Exercise caution," Stanton said before turning around again and leaving the kitchen.

Alexis remained leaning against the counter as she reached for the rest of her muffin, picking at it as she stared at the door thoughtfully. Maybe Jade or Erin were up now, and perhaps one of them would be willing to help her out with seeing if the wing was fixed or not; one of the technicians approached her as she was leaving her quarters and said that the wing was in perfect condition and that they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Of course, this was after Starscream came clean about gimmicking it. Speaking of the Seeker, something was agitating him for him to be moving now instead of later.

Ah, well, she could always just deal with Starscream's plans and stuff later. She had to chew him out now anyway for getting his way about the amount of her participation in the operation.

First things first. Getting a partner for testing the wing.

Alexis tore a piece of paper towel to act as an impromptu plate for her muffin, and then moved to stand straight again. She tore of a chunk of the muffin as she slipped out of the kitchen and walked slowly through the empty mess hall to prevent noise. The large room was silent, and it seemed a crime to disturb the peace that had settled in there after everyone had left.

The muffin now finished, she balled up her paper towel and aimed for the trashcan. She tried to toss it in basketball-style, but failed as the 'ball' hit the wall right above the can and rebounded onto the floor. As she walked over and bent down to pick it up, Alexis had a brief sense of déjà vu, remembering the last time she did this was in Mission City about two years ago when Ari had thrown her lunch trash against Ironhide. They hadn't known it was Ironhide at the time, but made it all the more awkward when Ironhide did reveal himself.

She left the mess hall and walked down to the women's quarters, deciding to ask the first person that she ran into. Passing her room, she found what she initially assumed to be a house of cards delicately perched on the flimsy folding table on the floor, and then upon further investigation found that it was a layout of the base itself. Ari's mischievous fingerprints were visible in the form of scraps of paper with a few names written down and carefully placed in the cards. Three plastic game pieces, one green, one black, and one purple, were placed in the structure. Alexis checked where she estimated the hangar to be, and found that two scraps of paper with Starscream and Thundercracker's names were there, but nothing more. So the hangar was part of Ari's future war zone. Alexis knew her jet would be where it was parked yesterday, so she made a mental note to switch hangars when coming back in.

Alexis backed out of the room before the structure could collapse, and then headed in the general direction of the hangar. She rounded the corner, and then recognized the woman at the end of the hall. "Jade!" she called out, and then jogged to catch up with the other pilot.

Jade turned and smiled when she saw Alexis coming. "Hi, what's up?" she asked as Alexis slowed down and stopped.

"Not much, you?" Alexis asked, turning to face Jade. Jade's hair was down, pulled back and out of her face by a light blue kerchief. She seemed to have rested well the night before, while Alexis had been listening to Starscream part of the night.

"I was just headed down to the hangar actually to check something," Jade said, smiling slightly.

"If you're not too busy, would you please help me with something? As you probably know, my jet's wing went kaput and apparently it's fixed now. I want to test it out, but I need a spotter if you will, up in the air with me in a separate aircraft," Alexis explained. "Will you please help me?"

"Sure! Just give me about twenty or so minutes and then I'll be ready," Jade assured her.

"Sounds good. I need to get suited up and all that jazz anyway, so I guess I'll see you in twenty minutes. Just so you know, when we come back in, we're going into another hangar, I think Ari's marked out the F-22 hangar as her next war zone," Alexis said, grinning. Jade laughed, and then both women turned in their respective directions.

Alexis began walking back to her quarters; assuming Marcia hadn't rearranged the closet by reorganizing the flight equipment, then it really should not take long for Alexis to prepare to head out.

She was also now partially concerned that Starscream hadn't made a peep since last night. Maybe he had been pushing himself unusually hard for the last couple of days, she knew she at least had been. In a world of uncertainties that included Autobots and Decepticons, she probably wouldn't know until it was almost too late. That was how it had been in Mission City, and then later in the rescue of the president's little girl a few months later.

Ari was back in the room when Alexis entered, and was putting the cards, game pieces, and the shredded paper away. She looked up, looking rather guilty when Alexis shut the door behind her. "Hey… haven't seen you all day," Ari said cheerfully while shoving everything under Marcia's bed and out of sight. She casually moved and sat down on the floor so that her back was against Marcia's bed and in front of the items. "Whatcha up to?" she asked, watching as Alexis began changing into her flight gear.

"Testing out the bad wing with Jade. What are you doing today?" Alexis asked, pretending to have not seen the card base earlier. Then again, Ari didn't know that she'd seen it.

"Stuff. Mostly prepping for the operation coming up. I titled it 'Operation Jaguar' in my head because it's like we're sneaking in and using camouflage to get the jump on the Decepticons," Ari said, fiddling with something on the carpet as she spoke. "That's why the jaguars have spotted coats, to hunt their prey better. The animal, not the car of course."

"You should tell that one to Stanton and Kina. They might like it and as far as I know, we don't have an official name for the operation," Alexis suggested, pulling on flight gloves as she spoke. "If this goes into history or biography books, it'll say that the title was selected by Arianna Aliskevicz…"

"I do like being famous," Ari interrupted, looking thoughtful.

"Anything other than that?" Alexis asked. She was curious to see if Ari would voluntarily confess the reason behind constructing the base floor plan from cards.

"Training with Riley and Toby in a few minutes. Flight simulator right before lunch, then maybe in-flight practice with you, Kina, and a few other squadron pilots. Depends if you want to practice too. Colonel Stanton said that we'll need to do some dry runs with Jade and Erin and the bomber, just to prevent mess-ups in the actual thing," Ari said, smiling innocently at Alexis.

Time to drop the figurative bomb. "I may not practice because I'm not going on the operation," Alexis said quietly.

Ari's expression clouded. "What do you mean, you're not going?" she asked.

"Starscream managed to persuade Stanton and Kina to make me stay behind. But I already have an idea for paybacks," Alexis said, fighting a smile that was threatening to form.

Ari looked confused. "Why would he want you to stay behind, and how are you going to get back at him without him hurting you?" she asked, frowning at Alexis's smug expression that was slowly forming across her face.

"I'm going to ask not you or him, but Jay Perkins to replace me on the run," Alexis said, pausing to fold her arms across her chest.

Ari was quiet for a few seconds as she thought about it. "Alexis, Jay is probably the most indecisive pilot on the squadron. He _loves _taking orders from you. That's why he's near the bottom of the food chain, not near the top," she said.

"I've had a good chunk of the morning to think about it. It'll work out, I promise," Alexis said.

"Well, if your goal is to drive Starscream nuts for a little while, that'll do the trick," Ari muttered as there was a knocking on the door. "Come in if you dare!" she shouted, and then leaned against the bed to wait for their visitor.

Tyler opened the door. He stared at Alexis and asked, "You ready to go with Riley and Toby?"

"Yeah, let's go. Don't want to keep the drama queen and princess waiting," Ari said, getting up from where she'd been sitting. Tyler's head jerked down in her direction, and only backed up when Ari put a gentle hand on his shoulder and pushed him back slightly.

Alexis closed the door after them, and then finished pulling her gear together. She had named Jay on impulse, and there was no chance of changing that now. Half the base would probably know by lunchtime. She knew that there had to be a way to turn her impulsive answer to her advantage, and knew better than to ask Starscream, Thundercracker or Skywarp for ideas. Jay was also going to be having a panic attack when he found out.

She grabbed her helmet from the locker and then left the room. The halls were silent as she jogged down to the hangar. Alexis mentally slapped herself when she remembered that she was supposed to ask Ari to distract the Seekers for the morning, but hoped that the Seekers weren't _that_ interested… the meeting seemed to be super low-key after all.

The bomber had been powered up by the time Alexis ran in. Jade grinned from where she was standing on the ramp, suited up to go also. "Do you need a copilot?" Alexis asked, frowning as she slowed down. She was pretty sure that the bomber required two pilots, not one.

"I've got one, don't worry," Jade said, winking before heading up the ramp.

Alexis placed her helmet on and secured it as she walked over to where she remembered the jet had been placed.

_Wait_.

Hadn't Starscream said he switched them on her? That she'd flown him the entire time and he had gimmicked his own wing to do that? Alexis paused in her steps to look up at the silver F-22 Raptor. She used to trust the jet to do as she directed, but with Starscream coming and going at his leisure, she was never sure anymore. Well, he'd been asking for it. She pulled a service ladder over to the jet, and then climbed up onto the body. Running gloved fingers along the streamlined side, she found the small panel that would activate the hatch. The bomber began to leave the hangar as Alexis pulled the glass hatch up and slipped into the cockpit, strapping herself in afterwards. Starscream, if this was he after all, seemed to be in recharge so she could probably get away with it for a little while.

She turned on the engine, and was secretly relieved that the jet was already facing the exit so that meant less maneuvering in tight corners on her part. Alexis took control, and then carefully directed the F-22 out onto the expansive tarmac. Green grass surrounded the cement, and she could see fiery trees lining the property with a small blue-gray lake just beyond the trees. Looking up, she saw that Jade had already taken off, and the bomber was circling around to wait for her to join them in the unusually clear skies.

"Tower, this is Captain Preston waiting for confirmation on take-off," she said through the helmet mike.

"_**Captain, this is Tower. You have the green light to go."**_

Alexis took a deep, calming breath, and then slowly maneuvered the jet to the runway. She pressed in a series of commands, and then the engines accelerated. Alexis kept a steady hand on the controls as she gently guided the jet into the air. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling of momentary weightlessness in her gut. Then she got down to business.

"Jade, there's a field nearby that belongs to the Air Force. We can stay above that and not cause mass panic amongst the civilians," Alexis said, vaguely remembering something that she had read a lifetime ago as a young airman basic.

"_**Good idea. You might want to practice evasive maneuvers, dives, turns, etc. We've got an eye on your diagnostics and the jet's positions."**_ Jade replied. Alexis didn't question the 'we'; she trusted Jade's judgment.

"Here we go," Alexis muttered as she guided the jet over the facility, checking the human-installed transponder as to not freak out the usual alert security. She remembered how Starscream had fought like a hellcat when they were first putting the transponder in. Stanton had to negotiate several deals before quitting the venue altogether and was about to try threatening when Alexis finally asked Starscream to tolerate the device for now. \

She had also pointed out that it would disguise his Decepticon signal to his enemies, and allow him to hide better if necessary.

Alexis glanced out the cockpit window at the bomber, and then tightened her grip on the controls. The jet seemed fine as she guided it in a straight line, so she twisted the controls into a swift barrel roll that she ended by pulling straight up into the sky. Jade kept pace with her height, remaining far back enough to keep their chances of an accidental collision low but close enough to swoop in if necessary.

"_**Nice barrel roll, do you practice much?"**_

"I actually try to avoid doing them unless it's a life or death situation. Nearly got sick when I first tried it out in an actual jet. Not a pleasant memory that I want to repeat. We can get Ari out later and she can show you some tricks she came up with that involve rolling," Alexis said, grinning despite herself. She banked the jet left, and then came to a near standstill as she inclined a bit more before nose-diving toward the ground. She didn't stay in it long, altering the course again so that she was horizontal with the grasses. She gained enough altitude to clear the red oaks before dipping down again to skim the water. "Seems wing is in working order again," she observed as she banked right and completed the turn-around to head back. She winced as the bottom of the jet smacked against the upper branches of a tree, ripping the branch and leaves clean off the tree itself. She gripped the controls tighter for a few seconds as there was a minor explosion or red and gold leaves in front of her, and then increased her altitude to avoid another accident like that. A bird squawked in alarm at her sudden appearance and did its own nose-dive to avoid the much larger bird in front of it.

"_**If Ari was seeing this she might want to try it herself.**_"

"Yeah, she would try it herself. Sometimes it's 'monkey see monkey do' in her world," Alexis said, turning left then right then down in rapid succession.

Before Jade could answer, a third party decided to jump into the conversation. "_What the slag?"_ Starscream thundered over the link, and Alexis felt the controls in her hands immediately shift backwards so that the jet sharply turned upwards. "_Skywarp! When I get back I'm going to –"_

"_I didn't do anything or talk to anyone!" _Skywarp protested over the link, but if he were a human and Alexis could see his face, she knew he'd be trying to cover up his laughter at Starscream's presumed predicament.

"Screamer! Chill out please, it's just practice," Alexis snapped before reopening the link to Jade. "I think everything is in perfect working order. We should head back, I've got to check the fuel levels before the first dry run this afternoon. Thanks for covering me out here."

"_**You're welcome, see you when we land,"**_ Jade replied before signing off with an audible _click._

"What is stuck on me?" Starscream demanded, and Alexis was ready to bet that he was using the scanners now. "What is this red infernal organic matter doing on me? Who dare…"

"I did, Screamer. Calm down or you'll be getting a lot more unwanted organic matter," Alexis said, releasing the controls to surrender the piloting back to wired Decepticon. She could hear him grumbling to himself as he tilted back toward the base and began to descend. "If it's any comfort, you're back in working order," she finally said after a few seconds of silence.

"Shut up," Starscream grumbled back. "You could have at least woken me up for that."

"Consider it paybacks for coercing Kina and Stanton into making me stay behind," Alexis said, checking to make sure the communications link was closed. "_And,_" she added, cutting off Starscream's protests, "You're not taking charge of the squadron either. I'm going to appoint Jay Perkins to replace me."

"_What?"_ Starscream snarled in her ear. "You're putting that spineless fleshy in charge of _me?_"

"It's your fault really, for not picking a rank higher than me when you came back and for letting Thundercracker's disguise get blown," Alexis countered as Starscream eagerly came to a landing, deliberately blocking the control tower from communicating with them.

"Yes, well, _you're _going to get in trouble now for not talking to the slagging Tower before landing," Starscream retorted crossly as he headed into the hangar, uncaring that he was moving a tad too fast for regulations.

"Again, that was your fault," Alexis snapped back as the jet swerved slightly to avoid a panicked technician. "That too. You know Stanton is going to blame you for this, not me."

"Ah, but no one else knows, right? How is that going to help _you?"_ Starscream snapped back as Jade and a tall man came into view. The man was wearing a casual T-shirt and jeans, and if not for his height, Alexis would have guessed that he could have easily slid into a crowd and from one's memory. His unnaturally bright blue eyes stood out from his blond hair, and Alexis had a guess to his identity.

Alexis popped the hatch. "I'm not picking the leaves out then," she said darkly, noting the colorful oak leaves that had gotten caught in the seams of Starscream's frame. She slammed the hatch down, just to drive her point home, and then walked out onto the wing. She waved to Jade who waved back as Alexis sat down and more or less slid off of the wing. She knelt down to absorb the impact, and then stood up. "So," she said, "What do you think of my collection?" Alexis gestured to the leaves, and Jade laughed softly.

"Very well done," the man said, his eyes twinkling.

"Alexis, this is Skyfire. Major Lennox and I found him in the Antarctic where remnants of Sector Seven were trying to hide him," Jade explained as Alexis reached out and shook hands with Skyfire. Behind her, Starscream had gone mercifully mute. Alexis assumed he had gone back into recharge.

"It's a pleasure to formally meet you," Alexis said, smiling slightly.

"As you. I trust that we will be flying together in the future?" Skyfire asked, his voice gentle.

Alexis smiled sheepishly and said, "Not exactly. Colonel Stanton and General Skye requested that I stay on the ground for this operation. They have a certain task for me." Not quite a lie, but close enough. "But I will be present for the practice runs."

"I see," Skyfire began, but was cut off when the hangar door opened.

A technician warily approached the three of them, the same one, Alexis recognized, that had been nearly mowed down by Starscream when they were entering. No wonder he looked so cautious. He turned his gaze to Jade and said, "Miss Rivers? Major Lennox wants to speak with you and your companion about your role and a contingency plan." He turned nervously toward Alexis and said, "Miss Preston, General Skye wants to see you about your reckless entry just a few moments ago."

"All right, I'll be there in a few minutes," Alexis assured him before turning to Jade. "I guess we'll see each other later at lunch then," she said.

Jade nodded. "See you then," she said before turning to leave the hangar with Skyfire. Alexis paused, rapped her knuckles against the jet's body once more just to communicate her irritation with him and to make sure she had the last word, before briskly following Jade.

**A/N: Not thrilled at all with Fox's replacement :( Just saying.**


	23. Practice Run

Twenty-Three

Practice Run

_**1230 hours**_

_**November 20, 2009**_

_**Suffolk County AFB, Long Island NY**_

Jay Perkins was a slight sort of man, one who became startled very easily. He was on the skinny side of the regulation weight requirement, and had green eyes and a mop of reddish-blond hair. Alexis had heard that the hair color was a permanent result of a high school lab experiment that went downhill. He was also very indecisive, a trait that kept him on the lower end of the rank scale. He never minded though, he enjoyed receiving orders from the higher ranks. Unfortunately, it was this trait that threatened him trouble when Ari sweetly ordered him to do something for her, and it ended with another officer in some sort of predicament. Alexis knew for a fact that he was on Ari's favorite scapegoat list. Ari justified the situation saying that one day, Jay was going to snap and actually stand up for himself.

Alexis was pretty sure she wasn't the only one with doubts of Ari's logic.

At the moment, Jay was in the mess hall with Riley, the two talking about the flight run that Stanton was putting them through for the day. Both were in various states of preparation, with Riley wearing his flight uniform but missing equipment while Jay just wore the clothes that protected the body underneath the flight uniform. Alexis stood patiently nearby waiting for some form of attention. Riley would have to stick around in case Jay had a panic attack.

"Captain! Sorry ma'am, didn't see you there," Riley said, looking past Jay's shoulder and spotting her. Jay turned and saluted half-heartedly while Riley jumped to his feet and saluted sharply.

Alexis gestured for them to relax and sat down next to Jay. "I wanted to say something to Jay before we did the practice run this afternoon," she said, choosing her words carefully as Jay's expression became crestfallen and Riley smirked. "Jay, judging from your expression, you already know that I'm not going to be able to lead the mission, so I want you to lead the four-oh-first in this op."

Jay whimpered as Riley jumped up and pumped a victory fist into the air. "_Yes!_ Tobias owes me money now!" he yelled, attracting the attention of a few personnel that were standing nearby. The mess, Alexis noted, was just getting over the lunch rush, which meant that the run was going to be soon.

"Really? I thought Tobias said he wasn't going to be honoring any bets today," Alexis said, smirking at Riley's expression as it went from euphoria to fury. "Last I heard he's in the hangar if you're interested… talking to Stryker. If he's not there, then maybe Stryker can help you find him," she said. Riley, snarling something under his breath, immediately abandoned Jay and tore out of the mess hall. Alexis knew what was going to happen next. When he found that Tobias was not in the hangar, Riley was going to wake up Starscream again by yelling for Stryker, which would most likely start a long shouting match between them.

That's what she needed.

"Captain, not that I don't feel honored or anything, but do I have to lead the squadron in this? There are more, um, _qualified_ personnel that can handle this, like Stryker or Ari," Jay said carefully as his blue eyes met hers. "Basically anyone else on the squadron but me."

"Jay, I picked you because I needed you to do something for me," Alexis explained quietly, and Jay looked even more panicked, having had plenty of experience with people needing him to do something for them. "Ari isn't the most discreet person, and Stryker won't do such bargains with me. I'm just asking for your silence and cooperation."

"Will I get into trouble?" Jay asked nervously.

"No. I'm writing down what happened so that _should_ something drastic happen, you're absolved of any blame," Alexis said, tapping her fingers against the table as she thought of the finer points while she waited for Riley to start yelling with Starscream. After a few moments, she finally turned to Jay, and with a calm expression, told him.

"But…" Jay began.

"Please?" she asked, folding her hands in her lap. After a few moments of silence from Jay, she said, "Please don't make me order you to do it. I'm asking not as your captain but as a friend."

"Ma'am, forget Stanton or Skye coming after me if this backfires, but Stryker will take _great_ pleasure in killing me if something goes terribly wrong. I know how much he likes you," Jay said. He looked pleadingly at her.

"Please Jay?"

Jay looked extremely unhappy, but he reluctantly nodded in agreement. He looked down at the floor as the mess hall doors opened and Riley stormed back in. "I'd like to _make_ Stryker first eat his words, and then I want to shove them up his tailpipe," Riley seethed as he reached over Jay to grab his jacket, which was on the table beyond Jay. "Come on Perkins, we've got a practice run in a little while, and I don't want to give Stryker any ammo to use against us."

"Riley, you and Perkins are in charge of the squadron now, you being his wing mate," Alexis said as Jay got up to join Riley. "You'll be answering to Skye while up there, got it?" she said, turning in her seat to face the two men.

Riley raised an eyebrow, but nodded. Alexis watched them leave, and leaned back in her seat. So she had temporarily relieved a little pressure on them all. Now, she just needed Jay to stay calm and not squeal before time was up. She stood up, and walked out of the mess hall. _Her_ presence was required on the observation deck, as she was going to be acting as Stanton's second-in-command for this op by being there in case Stanton was unable to deliver orders for some reason or another.

She was out in the hall when she bumped into Tyler of all people. "Hey Ty, how are you doing?" she asked, helping him get back up. He had fallen somewhat too easily for a male pilot who was receiving physical training to get back up to strength.

"Oh, it's you Ari! I thought you were getting ready! Sorry, I thought it was that Scott person," he said sheepishly, shrugging slightly. "I didn't want him to shove me to the ground."

"Actually, it's Alexis, but I won't tell," Alexis said, fighting back a small laugh.

Tyler scowled. "So I was off by one name and person. Big difference. How are you then, Alexis?" he asked, readjusting the glasses.

"Fine, you?" she asked, gently taking his arm so that he knew she was walking now and wanted him to follow her.

"I managed to count five out of my ten fingers this morning. My eyesight is coming back… sort of," Tyler said, walking fast to keep pace with Alexis's even strides. He didn't mind the holding hands; it allowed for him to not take a wrong turn while following a person. "Wilson told me this morning that I can't ever fly again though," he said mournfully, looking down and letting his head hang. Before Alexis could say anything, he added, "What am I going to do as a civilian?"

"You know that the Air Force, if not Stanton, will make sure that you're taken care of," Alexis said as they headed to the entrance of one of the many stairwells within the base's walls. She hesitated, and asked, "Are stairs off limits?"

"Technically, yes. But I'm sick of the stinky elevator. Just say 'up' when I need to take a step up," Tyler said stubbornly. "And don't tell Wilson about this. He hates it when I thwart his orders."

"Yes, superiors tend to dislike it when you do that," Alexis said as she opened the door to the stairwell. She gently led him to the first step, and said, "Up."

Tyler took the first step, and released her hand in favor of the railing. Before Alexis could say anything, he took the initiative by going up another step. Then another, and a fourth, and a fifth, and soon he began walking somewhat normally up the stairs. "And here was I thinking that you would take your time," Alexis said, taking the steps two at a time to catch up to him.

"Going up stairs isn't as tricky as people think. All you do is raise your foot and put it down on the next step," Tyler said, his foot going up into empty air at the top of the staircase. Before Alexis could warn him however, his foot came down hard on the ground, earning a surprised yelp from him.

"Yeah, it's just when you get to the top that it becomes an issue," Alexis said, taking Tyler's elbow and pulling him along the corridor ahead of them before he could take off up the next step of stairs. "I used to do that a lot when I was younger. Kills, doesn't it?" she said, grinning at Tyler's grimace.

"Yes it does," he said as Alexis slid her ID card through the security scanner and then pushed the door open. "Jeez, where are we?" he asked, jumping when they were both hit with a blast of cool outdoor air.

"Catwalk to the observation deck. Don't worry, I don't think that Wilson will be up there," Alexis said as Tyler reached out and grabbed the metal railing.

"No, he will be. He can be such a gossipy girl when he wants to," Tyler said darkly as the pair of them walked up the catwalk to the observation deck that was partway up the side of the base. It was also facing the direction of the future battle site that Stanton had picked out a while ago. "He even _told_ me he had 'misconduct' to report to General Skye and Colonel Stanton. He _likes_ tattling."

"Since when does he not?" Alexis asked in an amused tone as they walked around the corner to the observation deck

True to form, Wilson was there in his customary old and worn uniform, but his eyes were closed as he was stretched out between a wicker chair and a little wicker stool. Stanton was fiddling with something on the communication board wearing headphones and mouthpiece while the only other person, a technician, was checking the sound quality. Both Alexis and Tyler jumped back when Stanton suddenly swore aloud, clutching her headphones and staggering backwards. This knocked Wilson's glass of ice water off its stand and onto his stomach. The technician stayed for about another two seconds before dropping his own headphones and tearing past Alexis and Tyler.

"What just happened? Damn it, I _hate_ being blind!" Tyler wailed as Alexis fought back a laugh. Stanton stumbled ungracefully in her rush to pull the headphones off her head, still unaware of the obstruction behind her. Wilson meanwhile was awake and trying to push the glass off his stomach to prevent the rest of the ice cubes from rolling out of the glass. Stanton finally freed herself by yanking the headphones off while kicking the wicker table aside. Wilson snarled something incoherent as he gripped onto his chair to keep himself from pitching over.

"What the _hell_…" Stanton began, a fist forming at her side as she turned around to face them. Upon seeing her captain and former subordinate, the colonel immediately straightened and dusted herself off as though scrapping together what dignity she had left. "Thank you, captain and Collins, for joining us this afternoon," she said in her usual relaxed voice, but her expression seemed to be forced. "Please sit," she added, bending down and pulling Wilson's leg off of the stool as he tried to claim it back.

"Thanks for inviting us," Alexis said, matching the colonel's polite tone albeit with a twinkle of humor in her eye. Stanton smiled stiffly before offering another headset to Alexis.

"You will be wearing this during the actual run," Stanton said, slipping her own headset back on, adjusting her sunglasses, and then lowering the volume on the soundboard. "Figured we might as well as practice when they practice," she said, giving another headset to Tyler, who at this point had stolen Wilson's stool and was sitting on that next to Wilson, who was sitting straight this time around.

"Can someone _please_ tell me what happened? I just heard a bunch of cussing and crashing!" Tyler complained as he adjusted his headset on while Alexis, hers already secure, moved the mouthpiece near her mouth.

"_**That would be Stryker and Riley at each other's throats. Just like the good old days, eh Alexis? Tyler?"**_ Ari chirped in over the team link, and Alexis now understood where the soundboard was connected to; the squadron's communication network.

"No, I think he was talking about when Stanton nearly killed an unlucky technician," Alexis said as Kina snorted over the link.

"_**That would explain the sudden swearing then. Interesting vocabulary, colonel," **_Kina said, and Stanton gritted her teeth in frustration but didn't say anything.

"Just be ready to move out," Stanton said crossly. "Stryker, Riley, if you don't cut it out, then God so help me I will maim you both so badly that _neither_ of you will be able to fly for weeks!"

Alexis bit back a laugh as the bickering in the background suddenly died down. "Don't mind her, she's still upset from losing a lot of ground during this morning's brief," Wilson said through Tyler's mouthpiece before giving the headset back to Tyler.

"I'm not upset, just reasonably _concerned_," Stanton said crossly before turning her back on Wilson and leaning on the soundboard. Alexis glanced at Wilson as she sat down, and he mouthed 'upset' to her. She nodded in silent agreement as Tyler moved a little ways away from both Stanton and Wilson. "And I didn't lose any ground… yet," Stanton muttered, her words still heard since she'd spoken into the mouthpiece.

"_**That's not a good thing to say,**_" Kina observed as a loud hum began to take over the link. "_**Engines powering up… just like we discussed colonel."**_

"Yes, ma'am," Stanton said as she made a few adjustments. She turned around to face Wilson. "Tom, you, Collins, and Preston are going to lead in holding the fort for us, just in case the Decepticons decide not to harass us at Montauk," she said as the squadron began to take off for their first practice run. "I wonder why I didn't think to practice before our ambush against Lynch in DC," she said, staring at the jets as they took off. Alexis could hear Kina directing the fighters to specific locations within the group.

"Because with all due respect, you were supposed to be dead. Last I checked dead people aren't exactly in positions where they can still give orders. Usually, they're _dead_ quiet and six feet under. Plus, I think you wanted the element of surprise because Lynch had beaten you there," Wilson said without looking up from where he was still picking ice cubes off his body.

Stanton ignored him. Alexis chose this moment to ask, "Did Starscream ever say why he wanted me to stay behind?"

"No. You can ask him yourself on a secure channel," Stanton said, while Alexis mentally decided not to. Stanton cocked her head after a few moments, listening to something on the headset, and then asked, "All right. General? Who is whining like there's no tomorrow?"

"_**That would be Captain Perkins… Preston's replacement for the run since she is not participating,"**_ Kina said, and she sounded tired. "_**He's following orders, but complaining all the while.**_"

Stanton shot Alexis an odd look as Tyler's eyes followed the direction of the jet engines. "Whatever possessed you to pick Perkins?" Stanton asked, lowering her mouthpiece to prevent herself from accidentally broadcasting her words.

Alexis shrugged. "I felt he could do a good job," she said. No lie there.

"Right. And Starscream is going to defect to our side. It's possible, but highly unlikely. Let me know how that goes, I wish I still had your confidence," Stanton said before turning back to see that the squadron was almost gone. "I can still hear you, ma'am," she said into her mouthpiece before settling back into a padded chair that had been hidden up to that point.

"What are we doing?" Tyler asked, looking at Wilson.

"Testing the range of the borrowed equipment," Wilson said, eyeing Tyler suspiciously. "You went up the stairs didn't you?"

"Nope."

"Liar, you're usually complaining about how bad the elevator smells for a while after you've gotten out," Wilson snapped before closing his eyes. Then he asked, "Who is Screamer's new cohort?"

Stanton pulled her headset off, and for good measure, disconnected her link with the overall squadron while the link with Kina remained open. "Some Decepticon called 'Skywarp'; Kina told me. His alias is Scott," Stanton said as Alexis remembered with a twinge of guilt that the colonel had yet to figure out about Thundercracker's deception into the camp.

Alexis pulled her headset off and set it aside next to Tyler, who was unaware of the sensitive conversation in progress. "There's a second one, Thundercracker. He was pretending to be Major Cromwell," she said, zipping her camo jacket up all the way over her T-shirt.

Stanton let out a breath through her teeth. "Starscream had better be grateful that he's not _my_ subordinate," she said, narrowing her eyes accusingly in the direction of the retreating squadron. "Or else I would knock him down a few ranks, just to get the point across…"

"What about Lisa?" Alexis asked.

Stanton raised an eyebrow thoughtfully, no doubt thinking back to DC. "It couldn't have been her," she said. "She would have had to been in on the secret, and Thundercracker was very careful with perpetrating his disguise. I just realized that the few times I ever saw them, it was in public, and they were somewhat intimate with each other where other people could see them. You said Lisa gave you a phone?"

"Yeah, I gave it to you, remember?" Alexis said, wondering where the heck Stanton was going with this.

"It belonged to one of Pastucci's goons, which means that his agents might know about the Decepticons. And considering that four of his agents are now wanted by the federal government…" Stanton said, but Wilson cut her off.

"Doesn't he usually send six out at a time?"

"Yes, but one died in 2008 and the other went MIA the same week. They were pursuing Sector Seven agents when they had a close encounter with a third kind that went nasty. Or at least that's what the records say," Stanton said thoughtfully. "Pastucci was surprised to see it there, it belonged to one of the wanted agents."

"I'm not sure I like where this is going. Here's an assumption based off of yours; the guy who went MIA was taken by a Decepticon and now is being used as incentive for cooperation from the other four. 'Lisa' was most likely one of the two female agents acting," Wilson remarked as Tyler suddenly flinched.

"Um, Alexis? Intervention is needed, they're ganging up on Jay," Tyler said as Alexis snatched her headset from the table and made sure the connection was still there. She double-checked to make sure that it was connected to Ari's link first, if there were trouble in the squadron that was where it would most likely originate. She would have to check on Jay next.

"What's going on?" Alexis hissed into the mouthpiece.

"_**Whatever it is, Screamer started it,"**_ Ari said quickly.

"_**Did not, you infantile female,"**_ Starscream snapped back, cutting through the connection with practiced ease.

"_**Oh, I bet he's sounding like the epitome of innocence right now, I **_**know**_** he hacks into links…"**_

"Shut up you guys," Alexis said, barely holding back her irritation. "Ari, my decision is final. I can order Jay to stay, I haven't yet but I will." When Ari offered no further protest, Alexis switched links so that she was talking to Starscream. "Screamer, please _get over it!_ You were asking for it. If you have issues, don't vent them out on him," she said, lowering her voice so not to startle Stanton again.

"_**The general here is giving me a hard time too…"**_

"Good for her. She's my friend, and like me, she doesn't like being blackmailed," Alexis interrupted. "Now excuse me please, I have to make sure you didn't traumatize Jay too much."

She left Starscream grumbling as ever, questioning to herself why Starscream continued to put up with this sort of nonsense if he was powerful enough to annihilate them all. She figured he was looking forward more to the part where they go up against Megatron. "Jay, you okay man?" she asked as soon as a link between them was established.

"_**Yes, I guess so… you're not changing your mind, are you?"**_

"Sorry Jay, I'm committed to my decision," she said, and sighed when he disconnected the link between them. Jay wasn't going to be cooperative any time soon, and she just hoped it wouldn't be too awful for them both. She was a careful pilot, but she would still have to be extra-careful to keep the secret from going sky-high. "Kina?" she asked, switching links for what she hoped to be the last time.

"_**Yes?"**_

"Who started it?" Alexis asked. She didn't need to clarify; Kina would remember how chaotic the old 401st used to be, and would know that Alexis was referring to the latest shredding.

"_**Ari. Already told her off for it. Expecting peace for the rest of the ride. I recommend you give them a 'knock-it-off' talk or something, we can't tolerate this in the actual run."**_

"All right, I will do that. Thanks," Alexis said tiredly as Kina clicked twice in acknowledgement of her response. Then Kina switched links to continue getting the directions from Stanton.

"I don't know who is being sneakier here, the Decepticons or Pastucci," Wilson said, his voice reentering Alexis's consciousness as she pulled the mouthpiece away from her mouth so she could properly glare at Tyler and he could see it.

"The Decepticons by a mile. I haven't even really started things and they've already infiltrated three times," Stanton said darkly as she sat down.

Wilson just grunted in response as Alexis pulled her headset off, the argument settled. "Your girlfriend was leading the charge," she said pointedly to Tyler, who shrugged.

"I'm not up there, am I? I didn't encourage her, did I?" he asked innocently. Alexis narrowed her eyes briefly, wondering if Tyler may have encouraged something. But then he knocked Wilson's glass over again, sending more icy water onto Wilson. This time, the ex-sergeant didn't even react to the liquid, just grumbled a curse and continued dozing.

Stanton also fell silent, staring out where the squadron had disappeared a while ago. She looked as exhausted as Alexis felt. "I almost wonder," she said finally, "what… what would have happened if I done the smart thing and kept my nose out of Simmons's business at Mission City two years ago," she said, turning to glance at Alexis. "Ever wonder where we might have all been right now if I had retreated early?"

"On your next scheme?" Alexis guessed, and Stanton cracked a rare genuine smile.

"I suppose so, but with a lower possibility of fatalities," Stanton said, turning back.

"Do you think we're going to suffer fatalities?" Alexis asked, raising an eyebrow at the colonel's apparent insecurity.

"Not all ops go off without a hitch… or deaths. The more people involved, the more likely someone is going to get hurt," Stanton said, and then fell silent again.

Alexis didn't question her superior further.


	24. Cutting Losses

Twenty-Four

Cutting Losses

Alexis remained silent as Stanton's words soaked into her brain. She looked around, feeling as though she and Stanton were the only two who understood the full impact of the words. Tyler, whose world was now limited by what he could hear and touch, was staring intently at Wilson's water glass. Alexis guessed he meant to give Wilson a nasty look because Wilson had stolen his headset, but Tyler was just off again. She stood up and moved to sit down next to Stanton. "Ma'am, a private word?" she asked quietly.

Stanton nodded taking off her headset and disconnecting the line. She frowned as she saw a monitor blinking. "Remind me to tell one of the Transformers to stop screwing around with our electronics," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose and falling back in her seat.

"Ten bucks says it's the twins," Wilson said without opening his eyes.

"Ten says it's one of Stryker's buddies if not Stryker himself," Stanton mused.

"_**My ten is on Ironhide… even though I have no idea what we're betting on,"**_ Ari said through the communication link, her voice sounding tiny through the board's speakers.

"Easiest ten bucks I'll ever get," Stanton muttered as she glanced over at Alexis. "What is it Captain?"

Alexis mentally put aside the reprimand she had in mind for Ari. The girl should be paying attention to her flight, not to the conversation at hand. Instead she said, "Is there some way you can minimize damage before we actually carry out the operation? Are the rest of the personnel from DC on stand-by?"

"Send them into hiding again," Wilson suggested before Stanton could speak. He didn't open his eyes as he said, "It worked for Oroville, didn't it?"

Stanton straightened in her seat in a somewhat proud manner as Major Lennox suddenly appeared on the observation deck behind them, Ironhide at his side. "I suppose I could send an email off to them, cut back on those involved so there is less implication?" she said, her voice tailing off into a question as Major Lennox sat down facing her and offering a dark look.

"When you're being cautious, it's time to be concerned. Not completely confident of victory?" he asked, Ironhide looking in the direction the squadron had gone off in. Both men wore the dark uniforms that had the NEST insignia on the armbands.

"When Decepticons are involved, it never hurts to be cautious," Stanton said testily, crossing her arms in irritation.

"That didn't stop you after Mission City," Lennox said, leaning back in his seat.

Stanton scowled. "I didn't know what I was up against. And the only Decepticons then were Barricade and Starscream," she said, turning her head in a showy manner as though to mimic an aristocratic lady.

"You _still _don't know what you're up against," Lennox pointed out. "Ever go up against Decepticons every time they decide to cause trouble? It's not the same thing…"

"Captain Preston was here first, and we were talking about minimizing risks for those who are on stand-by. So, _please_ take a number and my secretary will…" Stanton said, trying to get back on track with Alexis.

"Secretary is on break," Wilson interrupted.

"How's this, you get the command of the ground operations, I'll do the air, and Tyler can get command of the space in between?" Stanton asked as she stood up, gesturing for Alexis to do the same.

"Yes! I actually get to command something!" Tyler squealed, causing Wilson to flinch in surprise.

"That sounds good when you weed out the Decepticons from the Air Force pack first. I know they're there," Lennox replied, his sweet tone mimicking hers. "When they're gone, we'll negotiate again."

"Fine, I'll knock them off the list first," Stanton said in an irritated tone before turning on her heel and leaving the observation deck, Alexis hesitating for a moment before following her. They walked on the catwalk that wound around the building in silence for a few moments before Stanton said, "Hopefully he won't figure out that I can't exactly leave yet seeing that Kina and I are still chatting about aerial maneuvers and all that jazz." She was silent for another moment before saying "If Starscream weren't to participate I would consider letting you back on the squadron."

"That's not fair, ma'am," Alexis said, scowling at her superior officer.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry for mentioning it," Stanton said, placing her hands in a placating gesture. "So, I was thinking of sending emails to everyone in DC, and tell them to scatter. Lay low for a while so that if something should go wrong, which it has a habit of happening, the government wouldn't be able to trace them through us."

"I'll call one of them to make sure you do," Alexis warned, and Stanton nodded grudgingly.

"I suppose. Speaking of friends, you do realize that something has to be done with Lieutenant Maxwell. We cannot afford to have strife in the ranks, not here, not now," Stanton said calmly as they continued walking. Ahead, Alexis could see the tree that was missing a chunk of its leaves, and hoped the colonel wouldn't notice or ask.

"He's on medical leave. I think Starscream feels threatened by him…" Alexis began slowly, but Stanton cut her off.

"Of course he does. I think Starscream, despite the rough exterior and all the hell he's put you through so far, still cares about you. I mean, why else blackmail me into making you stay behind?" Stanton said, raising an eyebrow at the suggestion.

Alexis shrugged. "What did he use for blackmail?" she asked.

She hadn't expected an answer. She'd expected a scowl or polite refusal to say anything at the most. Instead Stanton shrugged and said, "I told Kina once that I didn't think I had formal permission to be on American soil again. Then I faked a letter from the Secretary of Defense and said that to Kina also…"

"So we _don't_ have permission?" Alexis said, cutting into her superior's words. She gritted her teeth before asking "Ma'am, why?"

"Captain, if I had legitimate permission I'd still be slogging through paperwork back in Washington DC. If we succeed, with little damage and no casualties, we won't get caught," Stanton said, turning on her heel abruptly to walk back to the observation deck, Alexis skidding slightly as she worked to abruptly turn around and keep pace with her superior. A breeze blew between them when Alexis finally caught up to the wayward commander, and was ready with her next question.

"Am I right in the assumption that Major Lennox doesn't know?" Alexis asked wryly, keeping pace with Stanton. She raised an eyebrow, thinking of another question concerning the NEST leader, and asked, "Is it just me colonel, or do you feel threatened by Major Lennox?"

Stanton shuddered. "Too close in rank for my comfort. If you tell him that, I suggest learning to sleep with your eyes open," she said as they rounded the corner back to the observation deck. Major Lennox wasn't there, but Ironhide still was. Stanton calmly ignored him as she sat down and reached for her gray jacket that was still draped across the back of the chair. Alexis sat down beside her as the colonel pulled her jacket on, but against what Alexis didn't know. The air was still warm and the sky was still clear despite the approaching autumn.

There was a ruffling sound just as Alexis put her headset back on. She turned to find Tyler rooting around Wilson's favorite knapsack, and before she or Wilson could question him, Tyler asked, "Where is my medicine?"

"If there isn't any in there, then ask the doctor," Wilson said without opening his eyes.

"The doctor said to ask you since she doesn't have any." There was a momentary silence before Tyler said, "I need my prescription refilled."

"Well, then take someone and get it," Stanton said, half-turning in her seat to frown at both Wilson and Tyler.

"It's in New York City. The only pharmacist that is licensed to carry his prescription is the city. After the incident last month with the tollbooth girl, there is no way on Earth you can make me go back," Wilson said crossly as he moved to make himself more comfortable in his chair, as though to make a point that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"_**Lexi and I can go,"**_ Ari chirped through the link.

"Are you listening to us or Kina more?" Alexis finally demanded through the link.

Silence, and then, "_**Kina and Screamer are having this spirited debate over who should lead the squadron, him or Jay. I picked Jay's side just to spite Screamer**_," Ari said cheerfully. "_**Anyway, your conversation is a hell of a lot more interesting**_."

"One of these days, Arianna's mouth is going to get her into serious trouble. And I cannot wait to see that happen," Stanton grumbled as she leaned forward to the soundboard and redirected the links so that only the command connection was still intact.

"With all these aliens hanging around, that day may come sooner than you think," Alexis warned.

Stanton didn't say anything, but Wilson just grunted in response.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside one of the unused hangars, Lennox stared at the map of Suffolk County as a whole, and then the highlighted route from the base to the Montauk facility on a second map. He wasn't stupid; he knew that the offer of the command of ground forces had been one of Stanton's bids for peace after their major tiff in the boardroom concerning the Decepticons' role in this conflict. Ironhide had volunteered to hang around to make sure the colonel didn't speak of going back on the offer behind Lennox's back. He looked up at Epps and said, "We're going to need a contingency plan."

_Mental note to self, when this is all over, no more entanglements with the Air Force._

"Well, what's this?" Epps asked, gesturing to a thin black line that ran behind the shaded area that belonged to the Montauk facility. As Lennox scanned the area further, he found a whole network of the small black lines webbing from several points of the shaded area. They all eventually converged into one black line that snaked along a small river for what seemed like a while, eventually connecting to one of the major highways.

"Service roads I bet. See how it's all in the trees? Betcha that it's connected to an unmarked road on the highway, so that the government could get its supplies into Montauk without going the more public routes and attracting unwanted attention. Clever," Lennox said, straightening to study the 'public' entrance. There was just one, like he'd suspected. "We could use these to our advantage."

"We'd need a lay of the land first," Epps warned.

"Hmm," Lennox said almost to himself. He turned and looked up at the small group that was watching Skids and Mudflap. He then walked over and said, "Rivers?"

Jade turned to glance at him. "Yes major?" she asked, tilting her head at him. Her hair, free of its confining ponytail, fell across her face slightly, which resulted in her brushing it aside.

"When are you going out to do a run with the squadron?" he asked, leaning to one side slightly.

She frowned slightly as she thought about it. "I believe we'll set out tomorrow morning… is there something you want us to keep an eye out for?" she asked.

Lennox nodded. "If the maps we have are correct, there should be a network of service roads surrounding the facility. I just want to know how much cover from the air we'd have if we used the roads for the operation," he said, bracing himself as Mudflap head-butted his brother in the gut, sending both brothers to the ground.

Jade picked up her fallen cell phone before nodding. "We'll keep it in mind," she said as Skyfire placed a hand on her shoulder to help her regain her balance. One cursory glance told Epps that Jade and Skyfire were the only two at the moment who had opted out of wearing the dark gray of the NEST fatigues in favor of more comfortable looking civilian clothes.

"Thanks," Lennox said just as Skids sucker-punched Mudflap in the face, sending the Autobot backwards onto the ground. Lennox was mildly surprised to find that he felt little remorse for the twins gouging holes in the hangar floors as Skids lunged for Mudflap's throat. Nor did he feel a strong urge to break it up; the colonel somewhat had it coming.

"Wherever did they pick this up?" Rose asked, bracing herself as Skids was tossed to the side and Mudflap used the opportunity to pull himself up from the ground.

"A pro-wrestling show, I'm sure," Epps said, coming over. "Someone is going to have to break it up soon. As much as Will doesn't mind wrecking the hangar, the Air Force guys who use this place after us will mind." He suddenly raised his arms to protect his face as chunks of concrete and dust went flying everywhere. "We're going to be definitely getting a major complaint about this," he said, lowering his arms when he deemed it safe enough.

"Ha, ha, get it? _Major?_ Lennox was complaining about this earlier," another personnel member said, grinning broadly as he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder in Lennox's direction.

Rose knew she wasn't the only person to roll their eyes at the somewhat well intentioned but terrible joke at Lennox's expense. She ducked slightly to avoid the next chunk of concrete, and grimaced at the torrent of curses that followed its collision with Lennox's map table. "We should probably go before we get flattened, all it takes is one slab," Erin said at Rose's elbow, glancing down the line of the watching personnel to see that a few were already retreating and taking refuge within the base.

"I'll join you," Rose said, and was reaching out to tug Jade's sleeve when a flash of silver caught her eye. Frowning, she tilted her head to get a better look as the twins went crashing in the opposite direction. A few spidery legs seemed to slip out from behind a few crates before the entire creature in question came into plain view. Now, despite the fact she hadn't seen it since the jailbreak in Diego Garcia, Rose still recognized the nasty little Decepticon that tried to kill her and Ratchet back on the slippery decks as Starscream had been pitched into the ocean with his dark and unnamed comrade. Scalpel, Ratchet had called him, the Doctor, as his Decepticon partners in crime knew him. Rose leaned forward and caught Erin's arm before the other girl could walk out of the hangar altogether. "Erin, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" Erin asked, raising an eyebrow at Rose's slightly harried expression.

Rose quickly and quietly outlined the part of her plan she had just come up with. "See that Decepticon? We should probably box him up… he might be spying and…"

"Duck!" Erin squeaked, and both women ducked just another piece of rubble narrowly missed them but clipped their neighbor, one of the NEST rookies. Cursing in fluent French, the injured man walked away from the line of personnel, which was beginning to break up anyway due to the sudden increase in the risk level of watching this version of pro-wrestling. "Where's the Decepticon?" Erin finally asked, straightening slowly again.

Rose gestured, and the two of them slipped off to the side. Rose silently resolved to make this capture as quickly as possible, she suspected that the Decepticon was reporting back to whatever superior officer or Megatron himself. She'd heard plenty of the gossip from the NEST personnel to know that Megatron was not a force to be taken lightly. So she wasn't going to take any further chances with this operation, seeing that one of the commanders already had a record for questionable stability and Major Lennox didn't trust the commander that much.

It was, as Rose had hoped, a quick and clean kill.

Scalpel was so engrossed recording the twins and the onlookers that his sensors didn't detect Rose and Erin creeping up on the crates behind him. Rose was positioned off to the side, a pistol in her hand with a sabot round should Erin miss with the thick plastic storage container. Erin meanwhile waited, silently counting to five in her head. She was already nervous about the consequences of missing the creature, but took deep breaths with each number in an attempt to clear her head.

Scalpel moved.

So did Erin.

There was a clatter as she landed sort of gracefully onto the ground, the plastic container catching Scalpel. She squeaked slightly in surprise as Scalpel lunged for the side, attempting a break out. Erin gritted her teeth as one of his claws tore her gray shirt and her skin before shoving the container down on his claw. He only retracted his claw completely when a well-placed sabot shot from Rose clipped it and scored the hangar floor further.

"Let's take care of him," Rose said, already kneeling by Erin's side. She slid the white plastic lid underneath the container, and then both girls pressed the container down to secure the lid with a distraught Scalpel inside. "He'll tear through that in a little while, so maybe somewhere covered in steel…"

"The hangar closet," Erin suggested. "While en route here, Ari said she once locked up one of her teammates in the closet in retaliation for a past wrong, and no one heard him for about a day and a half until a custodian unknowingly opened the door to get some cleaning supplies. It's soundproof and thick."

Rose shook her head dismally. "One of these days, Arianna's mouth is going to get her into serious trouble. And I cannot wait to see that happen," she said as she and Erin walked over to the unmarked door, and waited for Erin to open the door. "Hopefully by the time someone accidentally lets him out, we'll be long gone and done," she said, shoving the container to the very back, Scalpel still shrieking incoherent curses at them.

"I need to see the medic… now," Erin said dismally as she examined her bloodied arm. She winced at the stinging, and tried to pull up what was left of that part of her sleeve to cover the wound so she could apply pressure and alleviate the pain.

As the women left, the fight between Skids and Mudflap was growing more and more vicious by the second since there was no Bumblebee to get them to knock it off this time. It was beyond the realm of a mock fight and was now an attempt by both twins to get the last punch in before breaking it off.

No sound came from the closet.


	25. Ari's Logic

Twenty-Five

Ari's Logic

_**1900 hours**_

_**November 20, 2009**_

_**New York City, Long Island, NY**_

Cars honked irritably at the pedestrians in the busy streets of Manhattan as the two Air Force pilots, one subordinate to her more sensible superior, finished their dinner. It had been a long drive to the city, and it felt like it had taken more hours than the actual length. Jolt, who had volunteered to go because he was curious about New York, had been a good sport, putting up with Ari's constant chatter and crummy navigation while Alexis focused on the road and getting to the right exits. Once they had gotten to New York City itself, they ended up parting ways briefly so Jolt could explore while the women ate dinner… actually while Alexis ate dinner. Ari had scarfed hers down.

Alexis grudgingly excused Ari for her rudeness. It was Mexican after all, and it was Ari and not Alexis who would be feeling it later.

"Well, the run was pretty good," Ari remarked as she and Alexis walked down the sidewalk in the bustling city. She was still finishing off a bread roll from the café they'd grabbed dinner from. "Didn't have to chew us all out at the end though…" her voice trailed off at Alexis's eye roll.

"It was necessary. Especially Starscream. Jay is in charge and I'm not budging," Alexis said as she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets.

"I can't wait for this to be over. Perkins is such a wimp. After this is over, I'm going to get a place in Boston… that's _not_ at my mom's!" Ari said, throwing in the last part quickly. "I'm not going to a pull a Simmons and do the dorky thing by living with Mom…"

"I bet she would love it," Alexis said.

"Yeah, she would." Ari frowned thoughtfully, and then asked, "Do you know why Stanton chose _another_ empty building on the edge of Long Island for the battleground?"

Alexis frowned as she thought back to when Kina told Stanton about it. "The building is the Montauk Air Force Station, and it was rumored that the government used to do all sorts of secret experiments there, including time travel," Alexis said, starting to see reason in the decision. "Maybe the superiors were hoping that Megatron would become suspicious and curious of the facility enough to go investigate, and we'll ambush them then."

Ari snorted. "Am I the only one seeing a pattern here? First Area 51, now this. Stanton seems to have this thing for top-secret places. Help me locate the nearest top-secret, off-limits hotspot and I can go and be ready for the next offensive ahead of everyone else," she said, kicking a red soda can a few feet down the sidewalk. Alexis glanced around for Jolt, and found him snaking along the New York traffic to their right. He seemed to be enjoying himself, despite having heard Ironhide rant about how much he disliked it.

"I can't think of any right now, sorry," Alexis said, smiling ruefully. "I'll let you know when I do though, okay?"

Ari made a face as Jolt started a dangerous game of Chicken with two daring taxis and one briefly empty lane. "Where the heck is the pharmacy? Why did Tyler's doctor have to pick the most obscure one in the _entire_ city?" she finally asked, reminding Alexis of their real task in the city. It definitely wasn't to socialize.

"Down this way," Alexis said, hoping that Jolt would at least notice that the two women were deviating from their aimless path. "We turn left up here, and the pharmacy should be at the other end of that side street," she said, pulling out and unfolding their hand-drawn map and examining it further.

"Maybe we can lose Jolt, and have fun trying to relocate him," Ari suggested as they turned the corner, Alexis pausing in her tracks long enough for Jolt to locate them before they slipped out of sight.

"Wait, fun for him or for us? Because I don't want to do the mean American thing and ditch him like that," Alexis said when Jolt flicked his headlights to let her know that he saw them turning the corner.

"No fun Alexis, you're no fun at all. I guess having kids makes you more entertaining, like all the adults I knew growing up," Ari said, nodding her head to some invisible or inaudible beat.

"The adults were like that with you because you probably required an extra amount of energy to handle," Alexis said as she took in their surroundings. This street evidently wasn't as important as the others, it seemed unusually quiet and empty. Buildings increased the darkness of the fading sun with massive shadows. There were a few amount of civilian vehicles parked on either side of the street. Alexis could see that the perpendicular street on the other side was just as busy as the one they'd left.

The pharmacy was like any CVS, and it was mostly empty save for two cashiers, one pharmacist, and two or three customers milling around in the shelves. Ari walked straight to the back to collect Tyler's medicine while Alexis paused by the newspaper stands, reminding her of how disconnected she'd been with the outside world. The front page was a story about the federal response to Egypt and Jordan, which had not been satisfactory enough for some critics watching the current administration. She picked up the newspaper and turned it to the next page, seeing a story about rumors for another alien conspiracy rising from the ashes of Mission City. She wondered if the public ever realized that the government planted some of these rumors themselves, just to keep spectators guessing while the real business was conducted in semi-guarded pathways. Was the government counting on the fact that citizens were too busy anyway in their every-day lives to read between the lines?

"Whatcha reading?" Ari asked, coming up at Alexis's side as she folded down the top of a white paper bag. "Anything good?" she persisted as the pair of them got behind a female police officer at the cashier line.

"Just stuff on the American response to Egypt and Jordan, along with more Mission City stuff," Alexis said, offering her friend the paper, which she refused.

"Are you serious?" Ari asked. She closed her eyes in frustration and said, "Okay, guys, there is only so much you can pound out of the Mission City fiasco. It's been two years so you can kindly _drop _it now. What's the latest theory?"

Alexis frowned while reading the paper. "Something about organic aliens who are disguised as humans and use remote-controlled bright green gelatin slugs to get into people's heads and control them. Caused a riot in downtown Austin, Texas as well as Las Vegas," she said, her eyebrows going up in confusion as she read the text aloud.

Ari scowled. "I can't believe it took them that long to use the story I submitted last year," she grumbled, pulling the corner of the paper down so she could read it.

"You wrote this?"

"No, just gave them the basic idea with the disguised-as-humans and remote-control slugs. Can you tell that I'd stayed up late the night before watching _Men In Black_ and an old episode of _Animorphs_?" Ari said as the female officer finally walked away, giving the two of them access to the counter.

"When are you ever going to learn to stop watching movies late at night?" Alexis asked as Ari placed the prescription bag on the counter. While Ari fished in her pocket for spare change, Alexis re-read the story. Now that she knew Ari was behind it, she could see Ari's fingerprints all over it.

"I'll stop when my life stops depending on it," Ari retorted. "The thing is, I had a creative writing workshop the next day, so I got my nightmare out on paper. That's what came out of it. Then I got a mass email asking for any more alien theories to submit to tabloids. Being the wonderful lazy idiot you love, I sent that in." She slapped the money for the prescriptions down on the counter as though to emphasize her point.

"You're right, you are the wonderful lazy idiot that I love," Alexis said, winking at her friend playfully as the cashier began picking through the mass of pennies, nickels, and dimes that Ari had put down.

"Emphasis on 'lazy' and 'idiot'," the cashier muttered as he counted the mass of coins out. He placed the money into the register before pushing the prescription bag forward. "Cash in the coins once in a while, will you?" he asked, not so discreetly gesturing to the jar in front that was labeled 'Tips Appreciated'.

"'Kay, I'll do that when I go out to eat again," Ari assured him as she took the bag off the counter. "Now let's go see if Jolt's wormed his way out of traffic yet."

The two of them stepped out into the street, and Ari suddenly recoiled as she spotted a police cruiser parked on the other side. Alexis would have dismissed it if it hadn't been for two things. One, she spotted Richard, Lisa's 'brother', standing there talking with the dark-haired officer from the pharmacy, and two, the cruiser's white numbers, which seemed to glow in slowly-approaching darkness, was 643.

_Crap._

"Hey Ari, you remember Captain Psycho?" Alexis said tugging on her friend's sleeve to get her moving.

Ari stared at the cruiser and her eyes widened when she saw the cruiser. "Shit, I suppose it was too much to hope that he got crunched into itty bitty little bits in that little incident in Rome… the Autobots almost became the next fossilized thing in the Colosseum earlier this year because of him."

"Why the hell would Captain Psycho be in Rome?" Alexis asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"Because he's psycho?" Ari suggested, and Alexis didn't comment on her friend's wonderful deduction skills. Ari ran a hand through her hair and said, "You know, I still can't believe I thought he was cute. I don't even _want_ to know what he thought of me." She fell quiet again, but for a few seconds. Then she said, "You know, this reminds me of a movie where the bad guy keeps coming back even after the sixty times the main character has tried to kill him."

"I think that's becoming a generic plot line. Sorry, I won't be able to help you on that. Come on, let's go before he notices us," Alexis said, turning to begin walking back down the sidewalk to the main street. Leaving Ari on her own for a few seconds.

"Hey pal! Are you some kind of cockroach? Because you keep coming back when I want you gone!" Ari shouted across the street, startling the two humans standing near the cruiser. "Or is it going to be one of those things where I have to drag you back to the Black Lagoon with your tail between your legs?"

"Ari!" Alexis yelled, turning abruptly on her heel.

The police officer stepped back in time as the cruiser began unfolding, discouraging Ari's request. "Okay, I've said the stupid thing for the day," Ari said as she turned and began running for Alexis just as Barricade, whom Alexis hadn't seen in two years, lunged for Ari as she darted to Alexis's side. His scarlet eyes were blazing in fury. Both women rounded the corner and winced at the earth-shattering crash behind the corner. "Is it just me or has he lost his touch?" Ari asked curiously as she and Alexis began running down the clogged sidewalk.

"I thought you said you were done with your stupid comment for the day."

"Right."

The wail of sirens and flashing lights reminded Alexis of the advantage the Decepticon hunter had over them. "Methinks that reconciliation between the Decepticons and Autobots is going to be harder than last time," Ari remarked as they rounded another corner, leaving shouts and curses in their wake as they plowed through the crowd.

"You can give them the 'acting like two-year olds' spiel. It worked last time, didn't it?" Alexis asked as the police cruiser suddenly appeared before them. Barricade must have found and taken a short cut, because he was now in front of them instead of behind.

"I was stupid and ignorant then," Ari said, dodging the cruiser as the corner of Barricade's fender caught Alexis's hip, pitching her backward into the ground. "Still stupid though, I'll hand myself that," she added as she kicked the front tire like a petty spoiled kid. Barricade retreated as though to get a better shot at them, and Ari rushed to Alexis and pulled her friend up and out of the way as Barricade lunged again. "What the hell is his problem?"

"You."

"No Alexis, seriously. We're running for our lives here. Be serious."

Alexis shrugged. "No idea then. Maybe trying to attract attention from one of his comrades?"

"That's why their god gave them communication links. To avoid the messy practice of running squishy organics over to get each other's attention," Ari said as she and Alexis retreated back around the corner. It was harder to move now, with pedestrians panicking and running in the street to escape Barricade. Drivers knocked into each other in vain attempts to avoid hitting people. It was a mass of regular chaos.

"Yeah, well, links or no links, I think Starscream noticed and is going to show up soon," Alexis said, spotting and pulling her friend down a somewhat deserted alleyway. "I hope Jolt is okay, Barricade must have spotted him and headed him off by threatening open confrontation."

"I just still can't believe I used to flirt with him, _gross_," Ari muttered as she and Alexis walked rapidly down the alley. They could both see the other end, opening up to another bustling street that seemed yet untouched by Barricade's rampage. The sun was still sinking below the horizon, and Alexis knew it would be way past dark if and when they got back to Suffolk County. She was also getting a nasty sense of déjà vu, remembering how she'd been cornered in Washington DC in a very similar fashion. This time though, she could see there were two ways in and out of the alley, so whichever Barricade chose to enter to harass them they could always take the opposite one.

"I wonder what's keeping him," Alexis said, attempting some of Ari's style of humor as she delicately touched her hip, where there was going to be a nasty bruise by morning.

"Maybe he's in a slugfest with Screamer… great, now I want to leave and go see," Ari grumbled as she and Alexis pressed backs together to keep an eye on both entrances. "I kind of wish I met these guys a whole lot sooner, my life's been a lot more entertaining since I met them."

"I think mine's been _too_ exciting," Alexis murmured, tensing when she saw the shadows of pedestrians on her side. _Okay, now you're overreacting…_

"Captain?"

She looked up to see Jolt's hologram standing there on the sidewalk, looking somewhat nervous. "Jolt! You're all right! Did you get away from Barricade?" she asked, breaking form and limping over to him. Ari let out a squeak and followed her. "Where is he?" Alexis asked, cautiously poking her head out and looking around.

"Slugging it out with Starscream in Times Square. Thundercracker was sent to locate you while Ironhide is on his way," Jolt said, gesturing in the direction of the square.

"Cool, let's go check it out! Money on Screamer!" Ari said, walking to Jolt's alt mode. "I'm surprised Thundercracker was sent to find us, I figured he'd send Skywarp or something," she said as Alexis slipped into the car after her.

"Um, Starscream and Skywarp are in a bit of a tiff over something right now, having Skywarp around would be adding fuel to the fire," Jolt said as they headed closer to the fight epicenter

"I see," Alexis said as the engine revved and Jolt hesitated, unwilling to get close to a fight epicenter. "Jolt, just drop us off close to Times Square. Starscream needs to see that I'm still in one piece," she said, leaning forward in her seat.

"NEST is going to be there soon anyway," Jolt agreed. "Especially with the amount of damage those two are kicking up."

Alexis was afraid to see what had happened. When they got there, the streets were still clogged with cars, some intact, others not. Alexis found Starscream almost immediately after clambering out of Jolt; the riled Seeker was gazing down in a condescending manner at the Decepticon hunter as Barricade continued shaking metal and other large scraps off his self. Most of the large electronics that graced Times Square were snowy now, the Transformers' signatures interfering with the hundreds of other signals. People, for the most part, were either still cowering or hiding somewhere in the wreckage, but there were others who were brave enough to come out and watch and see if Barricade would make the next move against the silver Seeker, who was still hanging out of reach. Alexis could hear Ari getting out of Jolt behind her albeit cautiously. Alexis hoped that Ari had at least learned that not all Decepticons were complacent and would leave her alone, even when she needled them. Then Alexis hoped the lesson would live past the customary twenty-four hour life span that lessons had with Ari.

An approaching engine caused Starscream to suddenly tense up, but he relaxed marginally when it turned out to be Thundercracker. His companion however earned a snarl from the Seeker leader. "Barricade, long time no see," Skywarp drawled as he landed near Thundercracker on what Alexis guessed to be a helicopter pad.

"Not long enough, if you ask me," Barricade snapped back, throwing a detached car hood at Skywarp. The Seeker lazily batted it away as one would bat away a flimsy paper airplane. The hunter scanned the three Seekers, and Alexis got the distinct impression that she was missing something here… perhaps an old vendetta? She also sensed the exclusion as Starscream began speaking again in their language, keeping the screeches toned down to something of a tolerable level. Finally he fell silent as Barricade considered whatever it was he just said.

Only Ari could break the tension that was invisible up to that point. "I've got money on the cop one now," she said, drawing not only Alexis's attention but the Decepticons also. She looked at Alexis and said, "If a Decepticon had the brains to pick a disguise that humans would generally trust, he has a decent chance of outsmarting Screamer. Screamer relies too much on aerial assaults and staying out of reach of his opponents." She stopped and thought for a few moments before saying, "If a Decepticon had brains, he'd figure out how to use that against Screamer."

"_What's this 'if' business?"_ Starscream screeched from where he was perched, and Alexis once again saw Ari's life shorten a bit more.

Ari stared thoughtfully at some point past Starscream's shoulder. " 'If' as in, _if_ Decepticons had brains, which they don't because brains are organic, and would turn to mush in their heads. Then they'd short-circuit and go kaput." She stopped, and then turned and gripped Alexis's shoulder. "I know how we're going to defeat the bad guy. We'll make those jello brains you can get from a store, and then use them as projectiles! Then the bad guy will get all pissed because he's got mushy stuff in his cranium, and it'll distract him so we can bring him down!"

"Ari, if you hadn't used the word 'cranium', 'organic', and 'projectile', I would've doubted that you'd gone to school," Alexis said bluntly, raising an eyebrow at her friend's use of terminology.

"I cut classes in high school sometimes," Ari countered.

_Not something to be proud of. _"Starscream, you're attracting attention. Do you want this to blow farther out of proportion? You'll lose any footing you have with the Autobots!" Alexis shouted, unsure of even where he stood with them right now.

Barricade said something in their language, and then transformed back into the cruiser. Taking care to come a little too close for Ari's comfort when he passed her, he shot off into the gathering darkness of New York City. There was silence before Ari said, "Wonder what his problem was."

"He will not be aiding us this time in the fight against Megatron," Starscream said, dropping ungracefully onto the already-wrecked pavement of the road. "Coward," he added in an undertone as he looked down at the two humans. At this point, Jolt had transformed and was now tensed, waiting for some nasty trick of Starscream's. But the Seeker did nothing except transform back into his jet form. "Hurry up," he snapped after a moment of silence.

"Take care, and keep the trip PG-13 okay? Don't want to give the helpers back at base a heart attack just 'cause you two were occupied," Ari said, winking at Alexis's suddenly pink face.

"Oh, shut up!" Alexis hissed as she accepted a slight boost from Jolt onto Starscream's wing. Jolt transformed as Alexis walked over to the cockpit on the jet's body. Alexis wasn't sure if it was a trick of the fading light or not, but there seemed to be a series of patterns engraved on Starscream's wings. She decided not to ask, but got into the cockpit. As the glass hatch came down, she watched as Jolt transformed, and Ari got in after flipping the bird to something Skywarp had said. There was a moment of awkward silence for Alexis as Starscream easily took to the darkening skies, Thundercracker and Skywarp behind him, flanking his sides. Finally she asked, "So Jolt said you and Skywarp were in a tiff about something. What is it?"

He was silent for a moment. "Remember what I told you about Scalpel? That he was Megatron's spy?" he asked quietly.

Yes she remembered that all right. Ari had nearly caught them both but wrote it off as a caffeine buzz and went back to sleep. "You said he was being watched," she said, pulling back a shred of their conversation.

"Yes, well, Skywarp lost sight of him. Scalpel had been prowling around the Autobots when he abruptly vanished from Skywarp's sensors. It doesn't help that he'd been talking to Aliskevicz at the same time," he said. "I made the error of mentioning that to Barricade. He bowed out, saying he didn't want to get caught in another power play of mine. He was busy anyway, keeping a little stash of American fugitives hidden for his use. Apparently he's still got an undercover agent prisoner and it gave him the cooperation of the agent's teammates. Enough so that the female Peyton was willing to play wife to Thundercracker's disguise to throw off anyone suspicious."

"Oh," Alexis murmured to herself. Stanton's suspicions were correct once again. "Ever consider that Barricade might squeal?" she asked.

"He does, and I win, he'll be paying for his treachery," Starscream snapped, effectively ending that discussion thread. Alexis thought of the unknown variable of Starscream's victory, but didn't say anything.

"The only reason you're backing Stanton up on this is because it works out for you if Megatron dies again," Alexis said quietly, drawing her jacket closer to her self. "And if she loses, you can deny involvement." She looked down at her feet, hating that she didn't know where she factored in Starscream's planning, if at all. "If we lose, we'll all die. Except probably NEST, and you and your Seekers."

"That's why I want you to stay back. So that I know you'll at least survive the first wave of his vengeance, and it'll give me time to return and take you to safety. I already have a location figured out," he replied, sounding smug.

"Where?" Alexis asked.

"Not telling. So you can deny any knowledge if Barricade or another Decepticon captures you," he said calmly.

"Okay, why are you doing this?" she asked as she felt him beginning to descend. The other two Seekers she noticed had disappeared at some point during the flight. But Starscream didn't honor her with an answer right away; instead he moved slowly into the brightly lit hangar and came to a complete stop before opening the hatch. Alexis looked up and was surprised to see his hologram standing there, offering his hand. She let him help her out of the cockpit, and she was about to kneel then sit down to get off the jet altogether when he pulled her back up to his height. "Why are you doing this?" she repeated after they stared at each other for a few more moments.

"You may have changed in the last two years, but I can still see that unsure female who was thrown into a partnership with a Decepticon who was bent on making her life hell the entire way through. But surprisingly, you stuck it out and survived," Starscream said in a calm voice. "I like your spirit," he said slowly, dropping his head so that his face was level with hers. Reflexively Alexis felt her muscles tense slightly, and then mentally kicked herself and forced herself to look him in the eye. She was a seasoned pilot, not a sixteen year old.

He carefully tilted her chin up and leaned forward, his eyes locked on hers. He lowered his head slowly, and Alexis bit her lip, hearing her heart and wondering what held her back from simply letting go and accepting him back. Slowly, she finally lowered her guard and released all her suspicions and concerns, anything that held her back. She felt his hand wrap gently around the top of her back and she closed her eyes…

A flash of light interrupted her mentality, and next thing she knew, Starscream was gone and there was feminine screeching. Face reddening, she turned in time to see Ari's dark ponytail flash out of sight around the corner as Skywarp's hologram tackled Starscream. The two got into a tussle before completely disappearing from sight. Alexis suddenly realized their plan, and quickly got off of Starscream's wing as his engines suddenly powered out and he managed to turn around and take off to the starry skies. She ran out into the darkened tarmac and looked up in time to see Starscream collide with another being, Skywarp from the hyena-like sounds coming from the fight.

Face burning slightly because she let Ari get a photo out of this, she resolved to see about settling vengeance against her friend and subordinate. She wasn't upset with Ari or anything, it was somewhat her fault for forgetting that they were in a public place and Ari had been planning to meet up with her anyway. She did hear recently however that Ari wasn't on good terms with the twins Skids and Mudflap…

"See you tomorrow… I guess," she whispered softly into the night sky, before turning on her heel and retreating back into the safety of the base and her own world.


	26. Illusions

Twenty-Six

Illusions

_**0630 hours**_

_**November 21, 2009**_

_**Suffolk County, AFB, Long Island**_

Wearied by the night's activity in the city, Alexis wasted no time in getting dressed for bed and going to sleep that night. She had no fear of oversleeping, not in a base under either Stanton or Skye's command. Between Ari, the base's buzzer, and occasionally Starscream, oversleeping was a wasted fear and an alarm clock would be wasted money for Alexis. So she never worried or stressed out about it. But there were times however, rather frequently lately, when she wished desperately for a clock, especially when it was Ari leading the wake-up charge with no warning whatsoever.

"Happy Birthday!" Ari squealed with delight, her sharp loud voice penetrating the haze of sleepiness in Alexis's brain. All of last night's excitement seemed to be forgotten already. Alexis meanwhile let out an audible '_oof'_ as a large and heavy weight landed on top of her blanketed torso. "Happy birthday Alexis! You're another year older and another year cuter!" Ari chirped, rolling over Alexis's body and lying parallel to her friend. She landed between Alexis and the edge of the bed. "Well aren't you excited?" she asked when Alexis blinked blearily at her.

"How the hell did you get to the base so fast last night?" Alexis asked. She sure as hell wasn't ready to drop last night yet.

Ari grimaced. "Jolt and I decided that speeding recklessly back was preferable compared to getting caught in the destruction of Manhattan by the media and Ironhide. If you hear anything on the news about tire tracks through fields and people's lawns, just assume that we _might_ have something to do with it," she said, wincing at some memory. "Either way we're going to hear about it later, seeing we did break some historic NASCAR records and even at normal speed it's roughly an hour and a half..."

"Speaking about hearing about it later, you really pushed it last night," Alexis said in a stern tone, hoping to get through to her friend.

"Why? I only spoke the truth. I thought Cybertronians had processors, not brains," Ari said, her eyes widening. "Isn't that what they call their version of brains? Or was Starscream too wound up last night? I was talking about _human_ brains, not brains in general. Skywarp said that Screamer would understand the difference," she added quickly, as though to make sure the difference was clear to Alexis too.

Alexis stared at her. "How is it that you're still here talking to me?" she asked.

Ari shrugged. "My self-preservation instincts may be bad, but my fight-or-flight response is automatically programmed to 'flight'," she said, leaning on her elbow.

"What about the photograph?"

The photo I took last night is gone. Screamer discovered this wonderful thing in Stanton's office called a 'paper shredder', and sent the hard copy through it. I'd already printed it out and erased it from my camera memory card, and then my computer mysteriously deleted it from the hard-drive," she said calmly, as though the loss hadn't affected her at all. She noticed Alexis's mildly irritated expression, and then repeated, "Happy birthday," with a smile and a hopeful expression.

Alexis said, "I'll think about forgiving you," and then promptly nudged Ari off the side of the bed. With a yelp and a _whump,_ she was down.

"And there she goes," Marcia observed as she climbed out of bed and began pulling her fatigues on. "Ari, I think Alexis is right. Human or not you shouldn't generally call someone stupid because one day it's going to be a general and they'll be so pissed off that you'll be demoted faster than you can blink."

"You don't even know what we're talking about," Ari shot back indignantly.

"Well, whatever you're talking about, Alexis has more common sense than you. So you do well to listen to her," Marcia said, and scowled when Ari flipped her off. "You are so lucky that I'm not higher on the rank scale than you because if I was, God so help me I would risk discharge just to put you back in your place," she said, getting somewhat further irritated when Ari sniffed in disdain.

"Okay Marcia, whatever you say," Ari said before delicately picking herself up from the floor. She squared her shoulders and stalked out of their room.

Alexis shrugged when Marcia sighed. "Where on earth does she get her attitude?" Alexis asked, glancing back at the door, which was still partially open. Through it, Alexis could see Ari walking down the hall back to the mess.

Marcia sighed, and said, "Maybe it's what you get when you live with guys too long with limited female contact. Think about it. She was close to her brother, but when the divorce occurred, she went to live with her father for like, two years until she graduated high school. Then she latches onto childhood crush Tyler Collins when she finds him again. Now she's chilling with Scott and Stryker." She tilted her head and asked, "Did you know her father was caught working with Sector Seven remnants last year?"

"Really? How did Ari take it?" Alexis asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

Marcia shrugged. "I don't know. I wasn't there when the arrest was made. No pity from what I heard from official reports," she said, pulling on her sweatshirt over her fatigues as Alexis grudgingly got dressed.

"Remind me one day to tie Ari up so she can stay out of trouble for more than a measly twenty-four hours," she said, pulling on her camo jacket on top of her own fatigues, and then nodded to Marcia. "Let's go, shall we? And keep the birthday thing low key please, I'm not one for attention," she said, gesturing to the door.

"Sure thing Captain," Marcia said, winking at Alexis.

The two women left the room and walked briskly down the corridor. In the stillness of the hall, Alexis could already hear the chatter coming from the mess, and checked her watch as though to reassure herself that she hadn't slept in by accident. "Skye is drilling us to the bloody ground today, and to make sure we all woke up, Stanton did this mass call thing and probably sent at least twenty cell phones ringing at six o'clock," Marcia said, noticing Alexis checking the time. "Ari has her natural energy that keeps her up at night and wakes her up early, and I had my phone on vibrate."

"Nice," Alexis said as they walked into the mess. She walked ahead of Marcia and went to a clump of the 401st already sitting separately from the other staff of the base. It _almost_ felt like home at Area 51, if it wasn't for the unfamiliar faces on the staff.

"Wonder what they've got for breakfast today," Marcia said as they walked up to the serving line.

"Standard fare I bet," Alexis said, her suspicion confirmed as they grabbed their filled plates from the permanently scowling chef.

"Not much better than the crap they used to give us at my old finishing school," Marcia said, sniffing the food. "Oatmeal. What a surprise."

"I heard Riley nicked some chocolate-covered Hostess doughnuts from some friend on the janitorial staff," Alexis commented as she nodded to the pilot in question. "Maybe if we're really nice, he'll share," she suggested.

"He only got four. I'd rather eat this than be extra nice to Riley to get one of four doughnuts," Marcia muttered, but followed Alexis to the table anyway.

Alexis smiled brightly to everyone as she sat down between Jay and Ari, who was next to Tyler. Riley grinned at her from across the table as Marcia sat down next to him. "Morning Squeaks, how did you sleep?" Riley asked conversationally as he patted his stomach.

"Pretty good, how about you?" she asked, noting both Starscream and Skywarp entering the hangar. They nodded their greetings and sat down a little ways down from Riley and Alexis. Skywarp seemed excited about something, while Starscream looked bored. Something, Alexis suspected, was about to go down.

"Best I've had in a long time," Riley replied good-naturedly. He was in a better mood Alexis realized.

Jay rolled his eyes as Tyler snorted. "He's just thrilled because he's gained at least four pounds overnight," Tyler said irritably. "Even with my crummy eyesight I can tell that he's got a bit of a paunch that I swear wasn't there last night."

"And that's a good thing?" Alexis asked as Ari scoffed.

"For guys, it's called muscle. For girls, it's called fat," she said dismissively as she continued eating her breakfast

"Yeah, what she said," Riley said absently as he slowly tore a chunk of doughnut into two. Alexis figured by now that he never intended to share his booty with any of the others. As she watched, Riley quickly glanced around to make sure no one was watching, missing her gaze, and then discreetly slipped a chunk into his jacket.

"Riley, I'd ask about why you did that, but suddenly I don't want to know," Marcia said, having been missed also in the perusal to ensure discretion. She drew in a sharp breath when the 'paunch' suddenly moved on its accord. "All right, I _really_ don't want to know now."

"Know what?" Ari asked, but stifled a shriek as the jacket moved again, more vigorously this time. This drew attention, and everyone surrounding Riley seemed to be holding in his or her breath. Alexis felt her jaw drop in surprise as a familiar gray-furred snout poked its way out from his jacket. "Oh… my…" Ari began slowly.

"You brought that disease-ridden thing all the way from the southwest? For real?" Marcia asked as she raised an eyebrow as Charlie, older and fatter than Alexis remembered him, finally clawed his way out of the confines of Riley's leather jacket. His coat, once luscious, was now faded and several of the nearby pilots groaned while others shot quick looks off in Wilson's direction. The sergeant was at another table and had his back to them, but Stanton and Skye were sitting across the table from him, so they were able to witness the furtive glances.

"Someone had to feed him! And no, I asked for a friend to bring him," Riley hissed defensively as Charlie paused on Riley's lap before executing a not-so-graceful jump to the floor, landing with a faint _whump,_ and then began waddling away from Riley. "Dude, get back here!" Riley added anxiously when Charlie moved out from underneath the table and waddled over to where the commanding officers were sitting, the chatter falling silent at the tables nearby as the animal was spotted. Silence dominated the room as Charlie approached Wilson's seat, the old sergeant twisted around watching the animal carefully. Stanton's hand twitched toward her side, but seemed to remember that her weapon had been confiscated yesterday and picked up her fork again. Wilson however stared at his old adversary for a few moments before turning back around to continue eating his breakfast.

Alexis let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Unharmed, Charlie turned and began making progress towards the NEST-dominated table as his master closed his eyes in relief, still sheet-white at Charlie's close brush with death. Marcia snickered as Charlie used his teeth to tug on Jade's pants to get the young pilot's attention. "It's okay, he doesn't bite," she called out as Jade leaned down to pick Charlie up.

"Someone's been eating well, hmm?" Jade said soothingly as she scratched behind Charlie's ears. "Has he always been with you guys?" she asked, glancing back at Marcia, who shrugged.

"Riley was on the squadron before I, so Charlie was around even when I came," Marcia replied, glancing at Stanton. "The colonel's wanted his pelt ever since he started causing problems, and that was around, 2004 or 2005 I think." She turned back to Riley and asked, "Do you know when it started?"

Riley shook his head. "I just know that Matt loved him, and it was by his graces that Charlie lived," he said, his eyes widening when he realized he'd let the dead man's name slip, the first mention of the name in years. Alexis grimaced at the memory, and a few of the old 401st veterans glanced back at the officers' table to see if the colonel had heard. Thankfully she had not; if she had, there would have been one less pilot participating in the operation. "God help me, I'm starting to talk as much as Ari," Riley whispered after a few seconds of tense silence.

"Just keep the volume down then," Kina said, materializing out of thin air. "'Kay guys, you've got to be up and _out _in fifteen minutes, so scoot along. Riley, I think Charlie is going to be in good hands, Rivers and her, uh, partners aren't going out until this afternoon," she said, recovering quickly from the almost slip of tongue. Riley didn't notice. Kina turned and said, "Stryker, if you and Scott can hang back from the run this time, I'd like to chat with you guys later."

_Just do it,_ Alexis mouthed to Starscream, and to her surprise, he acquiesced. "As you wish, general," he replied calmly, making Kina tilt her head in surprise at the easiness of getting the answer.

Alexis stood up. "I think, I'm going to go get some fresh air," she said to Kina, who nodded despite the slight crease in her forehead. She hesitated, and then said, "Um, Stryker? Could you help me with something please?" She ignored Kina's questioning look, and then Kina relaxed, assuming Alexis had things under control.

Ari's hound-like ears were up in a flash and she started to get out of her seat when Tyler blatantly put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back down. Starscream smirked at Ari's scowl as he stood up and joined Alexis, and then began walking out the hall. Behind her, Alexis could hear Kina berating Ari for her ignorance about people's need for privacy. "I'm surprised she stayed," Alexis murmured to Starscream as they walked.

"That's because I paid Collins thirty dollars to keep her in the mess hall. I have a way with computers, remember?" he said, still smirking from satisfaction. Remembering the incident when he'd used her ID card to get illegally into the Pentagon, Alexis nodded. Unconsciously she linked her arm with his just as he pushed the mess door open and they left, a small howl of indignation following them out. Alexis figured Starscream might have just electronically transferred the money.

"I'm guessing you have a way with paper shredders too?" she asked casually as he pulled his arm out from the link. She simply let it go. "Ari said her picture went away without leave last night."

"And she'll discover this morning that a few choice pages from her scrapbook had an unfortunate yet fatal encounter with said shredder. Don't know if the colonel will be able to get the machine fixed," Starscream replied just as casually. He paused in his footsteps, and then said quietly, "I'd like to fly with you again, sometime today perhaps. A small birthday thing?"

Alexis blinked in surprise, and then remembered his way with computers. "Starscream, are you going soft?" she asked teasingly, and was rewarded with Starscream puffing up in indignation. "But I'd still like that, a flight later today. And I won't steer you into any trees, promise," she added, her eyes twinkling slightly

"I am not going soft," Starscream said, catching her wrist and rolling it slightly so her arm, twisted with it. He smirked and said, "For example, I can remind the colonel about who gimmicked the phone lines during her training when colonel was trying to catch Ari red-handed. You were caught, and it went into the records, but the sergeant never reported it in."

"You'd better not say anything," Alexis said, but grinned. Her smile faded slightly when Starscream pulled her close.

"Maybe with the right incentive I won't," he whispered, and didn't wait. He lowered his head and softly kissed her, his arm snaking around her back and pressing her close. She closed her eyes, taking advantage of the stolen moment of their peace. Alexis let herself sag slightly in his arm, carefully and slowly placing a hand on his shoulder. Starscream broke it first by gently releasing her and stepping back. Slightly thrown off guard at the sudden loss of contact, Alexis hugged herself lightly for a moment.

"When is the operation?" she finally asked.

"Tomorrow. Skywarp is staying behind to keep an eye on you and stay out of trouble when going against Megatron," Starscream said calmly, in a tone that brokered no argument. He looked down at her as though expecting her to blindly agree.

Like she would.

"I don't need a babysitter, Starscream, I'm not a child anymore and I hardly need someone watching me. It's actually an insult," she said, folding her arms.

"Frankly I don't trust you enough to not do something rather stupid just because I'm not here," Starscream said bluntly, crossing his arms.

"Me? Stupid? You can't…"

"_No._"

Alexis let the word sink into her brain as Starscream turned his head and tilted it slightly as though to hear something coming down the hall. She would have to make sure that Jay was ready for tomorrow, although having Skywarp around was going to screw things up a bit. If Jay had been squeamish about their original plan, the modified version was going to have him confined to the medical bay for days. She pursed her lips as she thought about it, how she was going to give him a final pep talk before departure before tomorrow morning; the poor guy needed it. Someone had to have unquestionable faith in his leadership abilities, and he sure wasn't getting any from the other pilots. Now he was working with one less pilot than he was practicing with. Besides, Stanton and Skye were going to be running so many drills that day that it was going to drive Ari into either an extreme mischief or an extreme tirade by mid-afternoon. Perhaps she could convince Ari to vent on and distract the Decepticons on her own and keep them occupied enough for Alexis to speak with Jay in a stress-free environment.

A faint whining sound caught her attention. She turned and looked down just as a toy truck came into view, coming to a skidding halt on the floor. "Well, well, well. One nasty little Decepticon disappears, another one shows up," Starscream sneered, causing the truck to suddenly reverse in alarm. Alexis watched with slight amusement as it finally shot back down the way it came. "I hate that one too," Starscream grumbled, turning back to face her. "But I sense another enemy, so I will leave and join up with you later. Perhaps I shall find Kina and see what she wants," he said, and with a faint _pop,_ he disappeared.

Before Alexis could question his actions in her mind, a young ensign appeared around the corner with a familiar young man in tow. The toy truck from earlier was in the man's arms. "Mr. Witwicky, it is an honor, but not a surprise to see you again," she said. She doubted Sam remembered her from the last mess Stanton had herded them all into. No wonder Starscream bailed so quickly. Coward.

The sandy-haired man ducked his head in acknowledgment and in slight embarrassment. "Ma'am. Do you know where Major Lennox is?" he asked. He seemed more haggard and worn since she saw him last. He was being forced to grow up too quickly; he looked like he was in his thirties or forties instead of his twenties.

"I'm not sure, I think he was in the mess last time I saw him," she said apologetically, stepping aside to give the pair room move to continue walking down the hall. Yes, he did not remember her. Sighing, she pushed Sam and his missing girlfriend to the back of her mind and turned to go to the hangar where Jay should be waiting for her.

When she arrived at the hangar however, she found not Jay but Thundercracker standing there as he checked something on a nearby jet. "Um, hey," she said warily, unsure of what to do or say.

He looked up and nodded a silent greeting. She looked over the hologram over as he did a final check on the jet's wing. She had never met the real Major Cromwell before; he'd died in a freak aerial accident at Nellis Air Force base in 2003, an accident involving a rogue F-22 pilot. The death had sent Stanton into a tizzy over the lack of safe practices at Nellis, which in turn riled up the base commander for a long time. Heated words had been thrown over the computer, the phone, and in person for almost a month and a half. Now that she thought about it, it made sense. It was probably Starscream's first human kill, and he'd thought no one would make the connection with the dead man. "That woman with you in DC, that wasn't really Lisa, was it? And the man and child were probably hired to play along as the uncle and son?" Alexis asked, placing some weight on the back of one leg.

Thundercracker nodded as he turned to face her again. "The man and woman were partners on the field before they ran afoul of Barricade. As far as your Central Intelligence Agency is concerned, they're both traitors to their race. Barricade found an insured way to secure not only the loyalty of those two, but three others also. Ethan, that was the boy's real name, and Richard was actually his father, not uncle," he said, leaning against the jet's body while giving the appearance of wiping his hands. He was dressed in loose civilian clothing.

Alexis remembered something the day they had been preparing to leave. "The phone from 'Lisa' then, the one Stanton confiscated?" she began slowly.

"Was her last bid for freedom. She's been trying for a while to establish contact with her old superior. Barricade's blocked off every attempt so far," Thundercracker said, finishing the sentence for her. "Your colonel already knows, I think, so no need to report it in."

Alexis nodded. It did sound like something Stanton would know by now. "So," she began casually, "Is it just me or does Starscream have this thing against small Decepticons? There was this toy truck earlier…"

"Anything less than one-tenth his size is an irritant that's constantly underfoot," Thundercracker said, shrugging. "As for the toy truck, well, Wheelie is an Autobot and turncoat as far as I know or care. Nothing holding Starscream back from squashing him flat now," he finished, rolling his eyes while he spoke.

Alexis winced.

* * *

"Sam, it's great to see you again," Lennox said, clapping a hand on the teen's back. Sam grinned as he knelt to put Wheelie back on the ground again, where the disgruntled ex-Decepticon immediately began to seek shelter from the other NEST members. Sam stood up, dusting his knees off as Wheelie continued searching for safety.

"It's great to see you again too," Sam said, glancing at the few other NEST members who were present in the cavernous hangars. Devoid of jets, planes or any other kind of aerial equipment, Sam hazarded a guess that this was where the Autobots were staying in Suffolk County. Despite the early hour and the fact that not everyone was up yet, there were still quite a few personnel members walking around and getting ready. "What are you guys planning now? Bee wasn't specific when he picked me up from school," Sam said, wincing when he remembered Leo's reaction at the fact Sam was getting into NEST business again. Leo had assumed that since the Autobots loved Sam, Sam was a buffer between Leo and the Autobots. Leo hadn't been thrilled when the buffer decided to leave again.

Lennox sighed and said, "Remember back a couple months after Mission City, we briefly got involved with an investigation that exposed Starscream and Barricade to be hiding in the U.S military?" When Sam nodded, Lennox said, " Well, it's the same leader this time, but the colonel's gotten a bit more ambitious this time. She wants to draw Megatron into an ambush and finish him off for good. She's already exploited Starscream's desire to overthrow his master, so like it or not we are going to be working with him again. I've already tried to overrule that, but the colonel's stubborn."

"Screamer's here?" Sam said, glancing around quickly like he expected the Seeker to be in the same hangar as them. "Oh that's bad, I don't think he's forgiven me for our last encounter," he continued shuddering slightly. "This colonel is expecting defeat, right?"

"We keep warning her, but since she's not listening, we're working on our contingency plans," Lennox explained quietly as he fiddled with the beaded chain he'd been holding, the beads spelling 'DAD' in the middle, a gift from his daughter, who would be around two years old by now. "All I can say for sure is be prepared," Lennox finished grimly.

"When do we start?" Sam asked, silently daring Lennox to challenge the 'we'. The major didn't; it was well-known that Sam had earned the right to be on the team a long time ago.

"We technically set out tomorrow, so colonel is drilling everyone all day today," Lennox said, frowning as a thought occurred to him. "You know, we should keep your arrival under wraps for now. This is what will happen if we don't: the colonel will try to use you as bait to draw Megatron out of hiding. When he hears you're at Montauk, then that's where he's going. I bet that's what Stanton will think when she hears of your arrival."

"Stanton is the colonel? Her name sounds familiar."

"Yeah, she was the general in the last operation."

"I thought you moved forward on the rank scale, not backwards," Sam said, frowning as he tried to remember the list of ranks. "Does the Air Force do it different from the Marines or something?"

Lennox snorted in laughter. "No, you typically move forward on the rank scale in the Air Force. Stanton just got into major trouble over the years and lost her rank. New general in charge now, and more sensible than Stanton," he explained, grinning slightly. He tilted his head and asked, "Where is Mikaela?"

Sam shrugged. "In Tranquility with her dad. She couldn't keep Wheelie in the workshop, he was causing too many problems. So she sent him to me for watching. He doesn't like it, I don't like it, and Leo sure as hell doesn't like it. Yet here we are, Wheelie and I. He still misses Mikaela, it's kinda unhealthy," he said, casting an eye over to where Wheelie was sitting fixated in front of a closed supply closet door. "Anyway, where is everybody?"

"Getting fresh air. C'mon, we'll go see them. Hey Wheelie, betcha we can find you some pesky chipmunks to use for target practice," Lennox said, gesturing toward the hangar exit near the massive doors. To Sam's surprise, Wheelie actually listened for once and followed the two men out of the hangar door and into the open air and grassy fields surrounding the fields.

Neither of the men heard the faint scratching sound from the locked supply closet.

**A/N: I figured out there are nine chapters left in this story :( But there will be a poll up very soon, because I have several ideas on what to start next after this, but I want to see what you, the readers, want. Also, I know I haven't been updating the 'messages' part of my profile and appear to have vanished off the map, but I leave a lotta news on my dA page (homepage). So I'm not completely gone, just working on getting the next three chaps done and being careful with the doors around here; I've already been locked in, then out of my room and almost got trapped on a bus.  
**


	27. Planned Orders

Twenty-Seven

Planned Orders

Kina Skye calmly entered the hangar, her mind set on her conversation with Starscream. She wasn't planning to take any crap from him, and had two objectives in mind. One, figure out what the hell he had in mind, and two, find out what his intentions were with Alexis. She brushed back her blond hair, and looked around the hangar. Supposedly, the entire squadron was housed here, but there was always the possibility that the Seekers had sought out a more private hangar for themselves.

"Starscream!" she called out into the hangar, and released her breath when the Decepticon didn't immediately respond. Where could he be…?

"No one here but me," a soft male voice whimpered from behind one of the jets. Kina turned and watched in surprise as Jay Perkins unhappily shuffled forward from his shelter behind one of the massive F-22s. He was wearing his flight gear, but still looked miserable as he forced himself into a salute. "I do not know of this 'Starscream' ma'am, but if you describe him to me I shall look," he said, his tone stiff and failing to mask the misery behind it.

"Actually Jay, if you don't mind I'd like a word with you too," Kina said, approaching the nervous pilot. "About tomorrow," she clarified, and he paled farther. "I have faith in your abilities and Alexis's judgment. Don't worry about tomorrow so much, I will be there in flight with you, remember?" she said reassuringly, and placed what she hoped what was a soothing hand on his shoulder. It didn't help. At the mention of the operation, Jay's eyes widened, the only sign of physical fear that he had left in his arsenal. He gulped in more air, and looked nervously at the jets stationed behind him, as though he was now wishing that he'd stayed hidden when she entered. Or he was regretting about making his uneasiness about leadership public. Kina couldn't tell for sure; the only people she could read were Alexis and Ari, and just because she knew the two of them well. She lowered her hand from his shoulder, waiting for his response.

Jay finally spoke. "You have faith, the captain has faith, but the squadron and I don't," he finally said. "I am simply terrified of Stryker Davis and Ari. The only time I came close to leading anything was when I was eleven and it was a hike with the Boy Scouts. And _that_ ended badly. I'm a follower, not a leader."

"You were eleven then. This is different because…" Kina began.

"Because not only am I in the military, but I'm leading an _entire_ squadron into an _operation_!" Jay interrupted, stepping back slightly when he realized whom he had interrupted. "Oh no. Ma'am, I didn't mean to interrupt like that, I was just reacting without thinking…"

"It's all right," Kina assured him. She thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you want me to speak with Captain Preston about it? Ask her to reassign the command to someone else?" She ran through her list of squadron personnel; whoever took Alexis's place was going to be Kina's second-in-command, and there wouldn't be time or energy spared to deal with insubordination while in the thick of combat. So her candidates wouldn't be either Ari or Starscream. Both had the potential to go astray and fight her when it came to realigning them with the mission.

"No thank you General," Jay finally said, color returning to his face as he recovered from his fears a bit. He squared his shoulders and met her eye, and said, "I suppose that if everything works out, my role won't be much of an issue. I guess I am nervous about Stryker and his cohorts, including Major Cromwell. Something seems off about the three of them."

"It's okay to be nervous about conducting and leading an operation," Kina reminded him, raising an eyebrow at his sudden change of attitude.

"I know," Jay said, looking away past her shoulder. His expression tightened, and he said stiffly, "I'll talk to you later then General, _Lieutenant _Davis wants a word." He narrowed his eyes slightly at a point past Kina's shoulder.

"It appears I need no introduction, you wanted to see me General?" a semi-familiar male voice drawled behind her. Even though she wasn't as familiar with the speaker as Alexis was, Kina still knew he was dangerous, and should be treated as such. Jay, even though he'd gotten over some of his fear earlier, still took two-and-a-half steps back away from her as Starscream sauntered up behind her.

"Yes, Lieutenant Davis, I did. I was worried you might have 'forgotten'," she said sweetly, turning on her heel and smiling innocently. "But here you are!"

"Yes, here I am," Starscream replied, mimicking her tone of faux politeness.

Kina turned back to face Jay. "Thanks Perkins, we can still talk some more later if you want," she offered to the other pilot.

"I'd rather not ma'am, I could lose my nerve," Jay said somewhat shakily as he carefully regarded Starscream as a potential enemy. He cautiously stepped forward, and carefully scooted between the two of them.

"Yes, we wouldn't want _that_ to happen, would we?" Starscream snapped as Jay was walking by. With a yelp as though Starscream abruptly burned him, Jay ran out of the hangar as though the Demon of Hell was behind him. Which, Kina mused, was possible since Starscream caused enough hell on his own. Jay slipped slightly on the smooth floor in his rush to get out, but somehow managed to pause at the door without breaking something in the momentum. Before he could say anything though, Starscream let out a snarl accompanied by a nasty expression, effectively scaring the other pilot off. Kina winced as the door slammed shut, and was closely followed by a faint _whump_ and an 'Ack, sorry Major!'

"I don't like Major Lennox, he thinks he can follow me without getting caught. Fool thinks I haven't noticed," Starscream growled as he turned to face Kina, who, although a bit shaken, refused to give ground. "Before you speak, bear in mind that the only reason you and Aliskevicz are still alive is because Alexis wishes it so. As a bonus, Aliskevicz is keeping Skywarp from delving into his brand of mischief. It would be a lot worse around here if it were Skywarp by himself.

Kina refused to be fazed. Instead, she said, "Wouldn't it be worse with the two of them together? Any disadvantages they may have had separately could be gone now with the other being to offset them." She raised her eyebrows and asked, "I know you're used to being at the top of the food chain, but I'm warning you know that I'm not going to take any crap from you Screamer." Before Starscream could retaliate, Kina continued. "Now why are you so adamant that Alexis stays behind and off the operation? Is there something you're not telling us?" she asked, narrowing her green eyes at him dangerously.

Starscream smiled secretively before saying, "Nothing that I think you and Stanton aren't already aware of. Megatron is forever looking for a weakness of mine to exploit, and I do not wish for her to be exposed to Megatron," he said quietly, turning away from Kina. "There is a Decepticon here at the base who…"

"There are actually three Decepticons at the base, four if you count NEST's Wheelie. I thought that being a second-in-command, you at least learned how to count properly," Kina interrupted, placing a hand on her hip. She didn't flinch when Starscream shot a glare in her direction for the interruption.

"Perhaps if you had cared to let me _finish_, then it would make more sense," he hissed. "Now, _as_ I was saying, there is one unaccounted for Decepticon here at the base who is actually spying for Megatron and keeping tabs on me. Of course, since Skywarp was negligent and allowed the spy to escape and return to Megatron, I need to work a bit harder at my task," Starscream said, miffed for some reason unknown to Kina.

Kina was silent for a moment, and then she asked, "What did you say you'd do to us if we allowed Alexis to fly?"

"Report to Stanton's superior that she was illegally back in America."

Kina silently cursed Stanton for her carelessness. She let her hand drop to her side and said, "I'm guessing that you already have a contingency plan if we should switch Alexis with another pilot at the last minute."

"You won't. Skywarp is going to stay behind to make sure she stays," Starscream said loftily.

"Starscream, Alexis is thirty years old. I _think_ she can handle herself in combat, and definitely doesn't need a babysitter… and if you two are really as close as either of you claim to be, then you should have enough trust in her that she'll do what she says she'll do," Kina said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Don't you humans have a saying, one that says that the company one keeps is reflective of that individual's nature?" Starscream countered.

"And that's all it is, a saying. Even if it was true, Ari is the only devious person in that group," Kina snapped. "And even though it isn't obvious most of the time, Ari does have self-preservation instincts." Kina stopped as a thought occurred to her. "Speaking of Ari, have you seen her recently? She's been unusually quiet this morning," she said, glancing at her watch. Two hours. No activity from Aliskevicz in two hours.

"Don't try to change the subject," Starscream said crossly.

"Sorry, all right," Kina said, placing her hands up in a yielding gesture. "Alexis wouldn't like it if Skywarp stayed behind, if anything, it might encourage her to defy you and go anyway!"

"Don't question me, _human_," Starscream snarled, stepping closer so that he was within striking distance. Alarms going off in her head, Kina wisely stepped back, settling just out of reach.

"Fine. Then let Alexis fly. You keep her here and Megatron will have his confirmation that there's something special about her. She'll never have a moment's peace after that," Kina said coolly, veiling the anger in her voice. She stepped back and asked plaintively, "Do you really want to take that from her, Starscream? You're taking her future and only adding risk and constant paranoia to it… I don't know how Transformer psychology works, but that would eventually wear down a human."

Her pleas fell on deaf ears, she could tell. "I expect her to be here at the base when I return tomorrow," he said coolly before turning on his heel and abruptly leaving the hangar. Kina balled up her fists in frustration, but held her tongue.

She glanced at her watch again, and then left toward another door. Ari had been too quiet too long, and with the squadron about to take off for another drill, Kina couldn't leave things to chance. The brief mention of Skywarp's capabilities and the fact that Ari had teamed up with Tyler again, had reminded Kina that the girl was now capable of more mischief than ever. Tyler, despite his near-blindness, would undoubtedly want to help, just to feel like his old self again if anything. He could get away with it too, since Stanton no doubt assumed he wouldn't be trouble because of his eyesight.

Kina cursed and quickly ran from the hangar into the hall, searching for any of the trio.

* * *

"I am _so_ bored."

Tyler looked in the direction that Ari's voice had come from. "You're leaving in like, fifteen minutes. How can you be bored?" he asked.

"Easy. I got up ahead of everyone else and got ready, inhaled breakfast, got geared up, and then realized that I'm not leaving yet," Ari said, leaning on her elbow, which was placed on her knee. She was already getting an itch on her back from the flight gear's scratchy fabric, but she was too lazy to expend the effort to scratch at it. Give it another few minutes and she figured she might go nuts. _Then_ she might do something about it.

It must be true that all other senses become more sensitive with the loss of one. "Got an itch?" Tyler asked after a few seconds of silence.

"How'd you know?"

"You're tapping your foot, with more than fifty quick taps a minute. You only do that when you've got something physically bothering you, and at the high rate of the taps, it can't be _that_ complaint. It's going to be buzzing in my ears for hours later," Tyler explained, tilting his head down to where he estimated her foot to be.

He sensed her turn toward him. "Dare I ask how you know the difference?" she asked.

"I've known you since forever. Got an itch?"

There was the harsh rustling as Ari leaned forward. "Middle of the back," she said grudgingly as Tyler reached over and picked up the metal ruler he'd been handling earlier. Ari gritted her teeth as Tyler took care of the itch with the ruler's edge, and then watched as he dropped the metallic instrument… only to snatch it back up a few seconds later.

"What do you want Stryker?" he asked through gritted teeth as Skywarp's hologram sauntered up, initially appearing out of thin air near one of the jets.

"It's Scott, not Stryker," Ari hastily corrected as Skywarp opened his mouth. "The fun brother, not the killjoy brother."

"Which one is the killjoy brother? Stryker?" Tyler asked, now confused. This wasn't bossy Stryker?

"Nope, Tegan," Skywarp said, catching Ari's hint and sitting down beside Tyler.

Tyler tilted his head at Skywarp and asked, "Are you killing time now too?"

"I'm actually not going, going to be babysitting the captain," Skywarp replied, frowning as it occurred to him that this particular human's optics were somewhat cloudy and not quite focused on him. "Are you blind?" he asked bluntly.

"Almost. Not completely," Tyler shot back, suddenly self-conscious of his eyes. "The captain doesn't need a babysitter, so why is she getting one?" he asked, glancing at in the direction he hoped Ari was in.

"Stryker doesn't trust her not to do something characteristically stupid, even though that's _my_ area of expertise," Ari said somewhat sulkily. She rested her hand on her open palm before she said, "Well, I'm gonna go and get ready, even though it's going to take six hundred hours for everyone else."

Skywarp snorted. "I thought you were going to pull something," he said, looking at her. "Now is the perfect time because you'll be outta here by the time it's activated, and you can't be blamed for it because you were gone, Collins won't be suspected because of his medical condition, and it'll probably be too juvenile for my style," he said calmly. "Ever think about it like that?"

Ari and Tyler stared at him for a few seconds. "I thought Stryker said you were dumb," Ari said bluntly, raising an eyebrow and half-smirking.

Skywarp shrugged. "He's a bit wrapped up with himself if you haven't noticed. Besides, the dumber others assume you to be, the more you can get away with. That's how I've rolled in the past, and have gotten away with a lot," he said, winking at Ari, who snickered at his expression.

Tyler was quiet, thinking, before saying, "You could try the paint bucket again. It's been four or five years since you last pulled that, and I don't think Stanton remembers the last time you pulled it. We can make it more elaborate too, have a timer and everything."

"If Stanton remembers the last time we did that, I'll never doubt her memory ever again," Ari said, shuddering at the memory. "If she still remembers, she'll kill me for real this time… remember who bailed me out last time?"

Tyler nodded, and Skywarp, sensing this was something that happened way before the Transformers affected either of them, remained quiet. "Yeah, I remember. You had three defenders. One is dead, one is not in a position to help you, and the third is dealing with the situation of Stryker Davis. What about it? I think Alexis will be still be able to pitch in," he said, frowning as he looked up at Ari. Or rather he stared up more at the ceiling than his friend's face.

"Yeah, but the memory of the dead one is going to send Stanton into a tizzy. I personally think that this may be Stanton's last operation. It's like her mentality is slowly unraveling, and preparing for the operation is only speeding the process. Our target is _dangerous_, but she still wants to charge ahead. We didn't even practice for the DC or Oroville runs, yet she's talked Kina into drilling us like crazy," Ari pointed out, keeping her voice low in case the conversation subject happened to walk into the same hangar as the three of them. "She is acting very irrational, even for her."

Tyler remained quiet as he processed this. Then he asked, "Do you guys still want to do the paint bucket? Kitchen and the administrators' offices?"

"Hell yeah. Come on Warp, lemme show you how to do a proper paint bucket. Hopefully it'll go off when the squadron is loooong gone," Ari said grimly before gesturing that Skywarp follow her. Tyler, not willing to be left behind at such an important mission, scrambled to his feet and followed the sound of the footsteps of his best friend and his rival.

**A/N: I am determined to finish this. :)**


	28. Paint Buckets

Twenty-Eight

Paint Buckets

_**1400 hours**_

_**November 21, 2009**_

_**Suffolk County, AFB, Long Island**_

"I wonder when the squadron gets back. I wanna see Ari."

"Speaking of seeing things, it's time for your meds."

"…Damn."

Alexis shook her head at Tyler's 'forgetfulness' when it came to his eye drops. He usually refused to let her hold the bottle and do it, insisting that he do it himself. She made a point of watching him do it though, remembering how much he liked to skip out on medications that were tricky to administer. The ritual was the same. Every time it took him a few tries to get his eyes, dribbling medicine in the process. Every time this happened, she offered to help, to which he would refuse and continue to try on his own. Every time he did that, his hand would wobble and the medicine would go everywhere. Then Alexis would step in and steadily guide his hand in the right direction.

"What do you say we just skip to the part where I help you?" she asked, resting her head on her elbow as he fumbled with the medicine bottle. He seemed stubborn to prove to everyone, especially to himself, that he could function perfectly again, and had even refused help from the few doctors and nurses available.

"No!" he said, feeling around the lid for the catch. Alexis wondered briefly if this was new for him, the sudden determination to do everything himself. Had he been like this before the squadron arrived, or did he just start since he knew Ari was watching?

"It's valuable medicine that's going down the drain every time you fumble with it, trying to get it in your eyes," Alexis said, disapproval evident in her voice.

"I can do it," Tyler insisted as he successfully popped the cap. Alexis ducked in time to avoid the tiny white missile, and winced as it hit the light fixture behind her. "I can do it," he repeated sullenly as he leaned back in the recliner chair, armed with the bottle of eye drops.

"Right. Try not to sting yourself when I'm gone. I'll get us some lunch," she said, getting up from her spot and walking to the door. She paused, and said, "Remember, I can always watch the security tapes. I suggest you actually take the medicine while I'm gone."

"Damn security tapes," Tyler grumbled, and then abruptly froze in his seat. "Captain?"

"Yeah?"

"Are there security cameras in the kitchen?"

Alexis stared at him. "Noooo… I don't think so," she said slowly, dragging the first word out.

"How about the administrators' offices?"

Alexis raised an eyebrow and said, "Tyler, those are the _administrators'_ offices. Of course there are security cameras in there." She tilted her head down at him and asked, "You haven't been up to anything lately, have you?"

"No, of course not," he said, blatantly looking in another direction. "Grab me a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich if they got them, please?"

For his question about security cameras in the kitchen alone, Alexis sure as hell wasn't going in the kitchen now. Didn't Ari and Tyler _ever_ get tired of cooking up mischief all the time? Or was Kina not giving them enough to do? They needed an exercise that involved their hands and minds, and weren't at other people's expense. She slipped out into the hallway and walked briskly to the mess, which thankfully wasn't too far from the rec room.

Entering it, she found Skywarp sitting at a table facing the kitchen entrance. "You know, someone is going to think you rigged it if you keep staring at the door," she warned him as she walked over to where the buffet table was still set, the food all in metal bins with plastic lids.

"Hmm, I suppose you are right. But I could also be just sitting here reading," he said, glancing at her and holding up the book that she hadn't seen when walking in.

"Yeah, because reading a book upside down is _real_ subtle," she agreed, smirking when Skywarp checked the cover and sheepishly turned it back right side up. She hesitated, and then walked over to where he was sitting. "Is there anything I can say or do to make you go on the mission and _not_ babysit me? It's a bit… insulting when I have to get a babysitter assigned," she said, placing a hand on her hip.

Skywarp snorted. "You're telling me? I am a proud Decepticon who unfortunately as a pushy irritant for a commanding officer. I may be a little crazy, but even I know better than to directly disobey Starscream's orders. If you want out, you talk to him," he said, looking slightly sympathetically up at her. "And no, I'm not going to help you concoct some scheme to get around the order," he added, going back to the book.

"Do you really think I'd need someone to think for me?" Alexis asked, scowling at him. She was going to have to knock some sense back to Starscream, and not in a kindly manner either. She seemed to be hitting a constant barrier on that road. It was time to switch tactics.

"I didn't mean it like that; I meant that I'm not going to help you conduct anything," he said hastily, amending his words from before.

"Good. Because I wouldn't have asked you for help," she said, scowling at him.

He raised an eyebrow in her direction, but said nothing as she walked back to the buffet table to take Tyler's lunch and pick out her own. She shook off the feeling of being watched as she studiously ignored Skywarp long enough to grab two bags of potato chips and carry them out of the mess hall.

With Ari acting up so much lately, Starscream might have forgotten that Alexis could have a devious mind too. It was just that she was better at not getting caught, and hadn't done anything nasty in _years_, not since training if she remembered correctly. Stanton wouldn't know of this; Alexis had shaped up before auditioning to join the 401st, and, initially greatly frightened of Stanton's domineering attitude, didn't even dream of doing anything mischievous under Stanton's command. It wasn't until a few years into service that Alexis began to become familiar with the routine; Stanton only acted the way she did for rookies to see that she wasn't going to tolerate nonsense from them. As for the little black spot on her record, the one Starscream found out about when he accessed her records for her birth date, she had no defense for that. That had been her through and through and the only reason Ari managed to escape Stanton's scrutiny. Ari had pulled a prank; Alexis cut a few phone landlines with scissors to prevent the report from going through so Ari could officially sign onto the squadron without an excessive amount of black spots on her record. Wilson of course had caught Alexis, but let the pilot off because it was her 'first' offense.

"Here's your sandwich," she said, walking back into the rec room and clattering the plate slightly as she set it down on the little table back in the rec room. Tyler was sprawled over half the futon, allowing Charlie the other half of the couch. The fat raccoon was fast asleep as Tyler was still trying to get the drops into his eyes. "Is that your first or second?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"First or second what?"

"Eye. What else?" Alexis asked.

"Ohhhh, I thought you were asking if it was my first or second try. Second eye," he replied, blinking as the medicine finally slipped out and hit its mark. "Yes!" he shouted happily, tossing the bottle in his euphoria. Alexis stepped back when the bottle whacked Charlie on the head, earning a sleepy yowl of protest. When Tyler's foot landed on Charlie's tail as Tyler continued to dance at the completion of the nasty task however, Charlie somehow summoned the energy to jump up and make a swipe at Tyler. At the sound of Charlie's growling, Tyler tumbled over the armrest in a desperate attempt to escape the angry animal.

"Careful, I think it bites," Skywarp said as he casually sauntered into the room, the pretense of reading abandoned. He sat down in a chair across Alexis and watched as Tyler tripped while trying to get back to his feet. "By the way, saw that colonel of yours walking around inside the kitchen. Let's hope your logic is sound," he said in Tyler's direction, the latter of whom had frozen up at the mention of Stanton.

"I've already started my last will and testament, just in case it doesn't," Tyler said, holding up a piece of notebook paper that had slanted writing on it. He opened his mouth to say more, but a clatter and stomping near the rec room entrance caught Alexis's attention. "Are they back?" Tyler said abruptly, shoving the paper into his pocket and ripping it in the process.

"I think so," Alexis said slowly as Skywarp raised an eyebrow at the curse that unexpectedly rang out in the hall.

Ari was in first, and she looked _angry_. "Had a close call in the air, and it wasn't even my fault. I didn't even start it," she said grimly as she came up next to Alexis and stole the TV remote from where Alexis had placed it on the armrest. Then she plopped down at the armchair next to Skywarp, looked at him, and said, "Hey Scott."

"But it still would have been better if you stayed out of it," Marcia said testily as she sat down on Tyler's other side. "Alexis, get this. There was an in-squadron fight that occurred, and this time Ari wasn't even involved until she opened her trap and began taking Scott's side in the fight between Kina and Stryker. Anyway, Ari started harping on Stryker until he _ordered _her to shut up or risk getting shot out of the sky," she explained as she grabbed one of Tyler's two grilled cheese sandwiches. He was so focused on the TV screen he didn't notice.

"The epic part was that she actually listened to him," Riley said grinning as the door opened and Jade, Erin, and Lennox slipped into the rec room. Skywarp narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at the sight of the NEST soldiers. Riley didn't notice. "Hey guys sit down wherever there's a spot, just don't sit down on Charlie. He's the fat gray pillow over there, and he doesn't like it when people sit on him. _Trust _me."

"I trust you," Tyler piped up, back to sitting on the futon but as far as possible from the irate animal.

"He's the fat old raccoon," Marcia clarified as she slumped further in the beanbag chair.

"I know, he came over during lunch," Jade said, kneeling and scooping the reluctant animal up off its perch on the futon. Charlie was only capable of a little growl of protest until Jade placed him back on her lap. He shifted around into a more comfortable position before settling back down again. He only swung his head lazily in Jade's direction when she started scratching his ears. "Someone hasn't been getting enough affection lately," she observed when Charlie moved closer to her.

Riley scowled. "So I've been a little busy lately. It was hard keeping him a secret from the commanding officers, okay?" he snapped.

Lennox leaned forward. "It was going well until this morning. Why allow the slip?" he asked.

"Charlie wanted out. I thought he needed to, you know, go, so I let him. But as it turns out, the loser just wanted to dance with death," Riley said crossly, twisting in his seat to throw a glare at the animal. "I don't get it, he used to be more careful years ago…"

"He's old, so maybe his memory is a little addled," Tyler suggested, relaxing a bit on the futon. He only stiffened again when Charlie snarled a warning in his direction.

"What was Stryker saying about me?" Skywarp asked, his curiosity and irritation evident in his tone.

"A bunch of crap about how irresponsible you are, and was talking to Kina. I told him to take his opinion and shove it, and he got all hyper and started cursing at both Kina and I. Kina meanwhile is laughing and saying 'I told you so' and getting a kick out of it for some reason or another, and I was _this_ close to winning the argument," Ari said, holding her forefinger and thumb slightly apart to emphasize her point.

"Yeah, well, I think you're _this_ close to getting turned into the latest style of wall décor," Alexis said, mimicking Ari and holding her fingers at a similar distance that Ari was. When Ari raised an eyebrow, Tyler said 'Stanton', and the other pilot cringed at the thought.

"Yikes, really? I need another victim, one that won't turn me into a wall hanging or a human flambé," Ari said, stepping back and placing a hand on her hip. She narrowed when Alexis offered a sly grin to her. "Okay, you rarely get that. What are you thinking?"

"Betcha you can't do something nasty to Stryker, say, tomorrow," Alexis said casually, noting Skywarp's abrupt interest in the conversation. Whether it was the blatant disregard for Starscream's orders or the appeal of doing something awful to his superior officer, Alexis didn't know. But he was listening now.

Ari scowled at her old friend. "What part of 'won't turn me into a human flambé' didn't get across there? I ain't messing with Stryker, even _I_ have more common sense than that," she said, crossing her arms and facing her old friend.

"Aren't you good at framing someone else though?" Alexis asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Stryker thinks he lost something important recently, something that he doesn't like and is capable of harm," Skywarp pitched in, and Alexis abruptly remembered Megatron's little spy on the loose. He turned to Ari and said, "You do the prank, and I'll handle the framing. What do you think we should do?"

It was Tyler who jumped into the conversation next. "Nothing with paint. We can't let the paint bucket victim connect the dots," he said, nervously rubbing his arm as he confirmed Alexis's silent suspicions.

"Stick some nasty junk in his jet's gears," Riley offered. "Big pain to experience, next to impossible to remove. Something like glue or Jell-O. It's gotta stick to everything and get everywhere."

"I hate to ask, but did you test that theory?" Alexis asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep, and on Stanton's jet when she still flew with us. Ari got the punishment for that one though, and I made it up to her. But Stanton was _so_ mad afterwards it was almost funny, and she only realized it was us because we couldn't stop cracking up and Andrew had peanut butter smudges all over his fingers," he said, grinning broadly. "I think Andy and I had used crunchy peanut butter mixed with olive oil, marshmallow fluff, and glue. Messy _and_ nasty," Riley said, frowning thoughtfully. "And if Stryker complained about it, Stanton would pin the blame on _me _rather than you. I won't mind taking the heat as long as Stryker gets knocked down a few pegs."

"Never mind that he's your superior officer," Alexis pointedly reminded him.

Riley smirked. "It worked once, so why will it not work again?" he asked, winking at Ari.

Ari's face brightened as she remembered something. "Is that why _I_ got landed with KP for three months straight, Stanton's jet couldn't get more than three feet off the ground, Tyler didn't get his PB&J even though he was going through that phase, and both Wilson _and_ Mr. Stanton chewed the two of you out for hours about compromising personnel safety? That day was _epic_ because it was the first time you'd gotten caught at anything." She frowned, tilted her head at Riley, and then asked, "Why those ingredients?"

"The peanut butter and olive oil help with making it easy to spread it around, and fluff and glue ensure stickiness. You have to make sure you get the right proportions of everything or else it's screwed," Riley said, reaching over to Jade so he could take Charlie from her. The raccoon growled sleepily as it placed its weight on Riley's stomach, causing him to groan. "Geez, did you find and eat _bricks_ when you were chilling in my room?" he asked the animal, earning a yawn of disinterest.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this, I'm out," Marcia growled, turning on her heel. "Alexis, you should come too, ensures deniability later when Stryker is throwing a world-class diva tantrum over this."

"I'll be impressed if it works," Alexis said, winking at Ari who grinned. Suddenly Ari stiffened when she realized that the two women were leaving for real

"Wait, where are you going?" Ari asked, raising an eyebrow at the two retreating women.

Alexis shrugged. "Not the kitchen if that's what you're worried about," she said.

"I ain't worried about the kitchen… just go in tomorrow morning or something," Ari said, the last part of her sentence ending in a mumble as she looked away, running a hand through her brown hair, as though she was suddenly nervous.

"Hey, it'll be all right," she said, taking a guess at what could be making Ari nervous. She waited until Ari nodded slightly in acknowledgment, before turning on her heel and leaving the recreation room.

"I'm not sure if I want to know, but what's so special about the kitchen?" Marcia asked finally.

"I think the entrance is rigged with one of Ari's specialties, so we're all waiting to see who the unlucky victim was," Alexis replied, shrugging.

"Hmmm, I was better off not knowing. Oh, by the way, Jay wants to see you about tomorrow, a question he had. He's in Hangar A," Marcia said, glancing at Alexis. Alexis nodded, and Marcia continued walking forward while Alexis paused, and then turned and headed down the left corridor.

Alexis managed to keep her pace fast, but not unusually so. She didn't want to talk to Starscream just yet, not before the deal was sealed. She had to focus on why she was angry with him before she let him sweet-talk her into anything she'd regret later. That was Ari's strategy; seal the deal before you get talked out of it.

That way, there was no turning back.

Now as to where Jay had disappeared too after the squadron returned…

* * *

"So what if we fail?" Kina asked, jumping to the main point as she leaned back in the rickety kitchen chair. She hadn't bothered to change from her flight uniform, and her boots were propped comfortably up on another chair nearby. Stanton was pacing on the other side of the counter, a closed fist pressed against her mouth as she continued thinking and ignoring Kina. "Colonel, don't make me order you to disclose all information," Kina warned, straightening in her seat as though to stand up, as if height alone would assert her authority. She tensed, ready to snatch Stanton's lanyard that held the colonel's ID card and keys. The lanyard had been placed on the counter so Stanton could pace in peace, but it was good enough bait if it came down to bribery.

"I heard you ma'am, I'm just thinking," Stanton said, narrowly missing a chef as he scurried to the other part of the base's massive kitchens to ensure that dinner was coming along smoothly. Kina could feel the unkind stares and glares that the kitchen staff was shooting the two officers; the two women had more or less invaded the place through the custodial entrance, setting up shop in the prep area and driving the head chef crazy in silence. "Major Lennox will undoubtedly protect his own. NEST is valuable enough in the government that they will face little repercussion in this and if not, it'll probably be in the form of our dear friend Galloway. I'll resign before the feds show up, and you can honestly say you were deceived into this… just make me look like the bad guy and you should stay in the force," Stanton said, lifting a fresh cookie off the tray as one of the bakers tried to get past unscathed. "A little record tweaking should take care of the pilots," she finished before nibbling the cookie.

"Is that what you did after Oroville? To make us untraceable for questioning?"

Stanton raised an eyebrow at Kina. "I'd ask how you figured that out, but you probably looked into everyone's records before signing your team up," she said, lifting a second cookie off the next tray of sugar cookies as the baker again tried to sneak past.

"Yeah, I did. I'd wondered how the pilots got out unscathed," Kina murmured as she leaned back in the chair again. "So. The plan is you resign, NEST hightails it out of here, and you erase this from the records. This is of course assuming everyone lives. Which as we know is possible but highly improbable. What if someone dies?" she asked.

"In that case I'd assume responsibility since again, you entered this under false pretenses. I'll keep the courts busy long enough for everyone to fade from the spotlight… unless they want to be there," Stanton said grimly, looking at the pristine kitchen and its sulking staff. She pinched the bridge of her nose and said, "No matter what happens, this is going to be my last run with the Air Force. When I went to the East China Sea, I'd had plenty of chances to talk with Vice Admiral Benson. Nice man by the way, and in your age range if you're looking for someone." Ignoring Kina's flush of embarrassment, she continued. "He asked me why I stayed with the service. Imagine my surprise when I found I couldn't answer… is there something wrong?" she demanded, glaring as Kina fought back a smile and possibly a chuckle.

"No. I just thought I'd never see the day when you had an epiphany and got 'deep', Stanton. Ari owes me three hundred dollars now," Kina said, allowing herself a grin at Stanton's irked expression.

"Long story short, I'm ready for retirement… and _no_, I don't have a sneaky reason for leaving," Stanton snapped crossly as Kina fought to muffle her laughter. "You know what? You always drove me crazy when you were a subordinate, and you're driving me nuts _now_!"

"Newsflash: Keller hired me specifically because he knew I could bother you," Kina said, winking at Stanton, who rolled her eyes in irritation.

"Fine. Now excuse me while I go look for some incentive to draw Megatron to Montauk," Stanton said with a huff before turning on her heel and heading toward the kitchen exit. Then the first red flag went up in Kina's mind; more than fifty percent of the kitchen staff paused in their work to watch the riled colonel leave. Were they going to cheer for her departure?

But nothing happened. Stanton stalked out into the mess hall, and a few of the staff relaxed. The colonel's negative energy swirled out of the kitchen in her wake. Then Kina spotted that Stanton had left her lanyard behind; she wouldn't get into her quarters much less her office without the keys. Best to avoid a fuss and return them to her. "Stanton! You forgot your keys! Come back and get them!" Kina shouted as she heard the mess hall doors creak open. There was silence, and then a _slam_ followed by brisk footsteps.

"Yes, and spare us the drama," one of the chefs muttered as he bent down to pull out a tray of meat slices for dinner.

"Bloody keys, if there was one thing I'd change about this place, it'd be to replace all locks with scanners with vocal and DNA recognition features," Stanton seethed, reappearing and pushing the kitchen door open so she could march right back in.

_Sploosh!_

Kina immediately clamped both hands over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud at Stanton's newfound predicament. The staff was less kind, and a few snickers and muffled laughs could be heard as Stanton spat out the neon pink paint that had seeped into her mouth. Then she used her hands to wipe paint clear from her eyes, nose, and mouth. She looked comical instead of angry, her head and shoulders coated in thick oily pink paint, her pink-coated facial features twisted in a deep scowl as the paint dripped from her hair to the floor and her back. Kina remembered this prank from five years ago; Ari's trusty handy-dandy paint bucket. This was the simpler version of it if she remembered correctly; Ari had claimed there was a more complex version but never got to test it out. Kina wondered if Stanton remembered the prank and the perpetrator, and if Stanton remembered the threat she'd given Ari at the time.

Stanton took deep, controlling breaths as she finally walked forward, her gait stiff in anger. She picked up the lanyard, looked at Kina, and said through nearly clenched teeth, "If we hadn't been in constant contact for the last twelve hours, I would have immediately assumed that you helped precipitate this. However, you didn't. So if you will excuse me, I will be going to my quarters, and preparing my wall for the new decoration… just like I promised five years ago."

Okay, she hadn't forgotten either.

Kina fought the bubbling laughter before managing to say in a controlled voice, "Aliskevicz couldn't have done it… she was with the squadron all afternoon." Kina didn't mention that there had been a block of twenty minutes where Ari had slipped from her radar, but she wondered if Ari could honestly get into this much trouble in twenty minutes. For something like this, she would have needed more time for the preparation work, and Tyler was in no condition to help her. This also didn't strike her as the type of work that Skywarp would delve into, at least based off the description that Starscream had provided earlier in the day.

"Collins perhaps?"

Kina raised an eyebrow. "Isn't he mostly blind? He would have needed help, and Ari definitely knows better than to attempt that again," she pointed out.

"Then…_who?_" Stanton asked, meeting the stare of each staff member, who each suddenly remembered they had another task to attend to.

Kina shrugged. "You could ask around. I doubt though that some of the pilots are going to be willing to help… try asking the ones that Ari's recently antagonized," she said, leaning back in her chair again as Stanton snatched the lanyard and stalked out of the kitchen, muttering something about a shower and strangling someone as she left. The atmosphere in the kitchen lightened considerably once Stanton left; the woman was like a dark rain cloud sometimes.

"You think she'll find the culprit? We didn't see anyone," a baker said, standing near where Kina was sitting, a tray with a fresh cookie batch in his hands.

Kina shrugged, sitting back up long enough to steal a cookie from the baker. "Who knows? She's just gotta ask the right people. The wrong people won't breathe a word, but the right ones will sing like canaries," she said, munching on the still-hot cookie while the baker scowled, and then muttered under his breath something about the paradox of having uniformed cookie thieves.

**A/N: Anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year? Registered earlier this month, and have been working on my outline ever since. Outlines are permitted before Nov. 1, actual story content isn't. Poll will close on November 5th, so there's still time if you haven't voted already! Luckily, it's looking like I won't have to do a tie-breaker after all. :D **


	29. Setting Traps

Twenty-Nine

Setting Traps

_**2200 hours**_

_**November 21, 2009**_

_**Suffolk County AFB, New York**_

Computers were so impersonal. Nowadays, since they were being used so much, Alexis figured that it was easier to type something rather than handwrite it. To her however, a handwritten note conveyed more meaning because the hand could write the emotions into the words.

A computer could not.

She balanced the cell phone between her shoulder and ear as she leaned forward to continue writing. The earlier afternoon had to be quietest in 401st history; Stanton had been the paint bucket victim again, and had embarked on the figurative warpath as soon as she'd cleaned off. Ari and Tyler conspicuously vanished around three in the afternoon; they didn't resurface for hours, even when Kina summoned the squadron for a quick briefing. Their instincts condemned them; Stanton was present at the briefing, still simmering. Riley later reported that Stanton hadn't uttered a word during the entire hour and a half, but Ari's absence had been enough of a guilt admission for the colonel. At the end, it had been something of a scramble for the pilots to get out the door before they were roped in for questioning. Riley added that Ari had lucked out; the two pilots recruited for questioning were squadron 'newbies' so to speak; they didn't know Ari very well, just enough to know to stay well away from her

"_**Still there Alexis?**_" Kina asked, her voice crackly on the cheap cell phone that Alexis had purchased before the Barricade fiasco in New York. Alexis eyed her pack sitting on the floor, where her real cell phone was tucked in between her clothes. Always one to fall onto ingrained habits when anxious, for the first time since Mission City, Alexis had fallen into the pre-op routine of using untraceable phones, in the event the entire op was blown to hell and back and a new identity was the key to freedom. After Oroville, Stanton had provided false identities for anyone who wanted to leave. A few took her up on that offer. _"__**Alexis, are you still there or did you fall asleep on me?**_" Kina finally asked, her voice echoing the unspoken concern.

"I'm here, just thinking about what might happen after the operation," she said, looking back at the two sheets of notebook paper, one completely written on, and the other halfway done.

Kina snorted. "_**Stanton's retiring. That's what is happening after the operation and I'm hoping you'll stay on the squadron. Thayer's letting me keep the four-oh-first in permanent commission after this,"**_ she said, sounding a little too cheery that her former superior and current subordinate was about to leave. There was a moment of silence, and then she said, "_**Okay, Stanton apparently heard me say that. She's still not happy because of the whole paint thing."**_

"I don't blame her; unfortunately for us, Ari's flight instinct is much stronger than her self-preservation one; if it weren't, Ari wouldn't be getting into this mischief," Alexis said, tucking the phone back between her ear and shoulder so she could continue writing and talking at the same time.

"_**Did she have anything remotely to do with the paint?"**_

"I don't know; I didn't see her until earlier this afternoon when she returned with the rest of the squadron," she admitted truthfully. "Besides, her lack of appearance later in the afternoon should have been admission enough."

Kina snorted. "_**Stanton won't be satisfied until she's wrangled a verbal confession out of Aliskevicz,**_" she said. "_**Something she can use in the tribunal during their court marshals."**_

Alexis laughed softly as she folded the first envelope, her fingers feeling like lead. "So, isn't there going to be a ground team?" she asked as she relaxed against the wall that her bed was up against.

"_**More like a ground army. Assuming Megatron doesn't bring the entire Decepticon cavalry, we might actually stand a decent chance of beating him,"**_ Kina said, a muffled curse coming from her end. _**"That was Simmons, he and Stanton are going at it again. She flicked him, he punched her lightly on the shoulder, and finally she stomped on his foot. Guess who won that little tiff?"**_ Kina muttered disapprovingly under her breath as she continued to walk wherever she was.

"They should get married, they certainly act like they are," Alexis muttered, Kina snorting with laughter before covering it up as a coughing fit. "How do you guys know where you're going if you haven't been there before?"

"_**Stanton has 'borrowed' blueprints, if you have my drift. She keeps them stashed in her office when she's not using them,"**_ Kina replied. She hesitated, and then said, _**"I have to go now, this catfight is getting a little too physical and Major Lennox looks extremely irked right now. I'll call back later,"**_ she said before hanging up with a _click._

Alexis pressed the 'End' button before letting herself flop back onto her bed with a groan, her mind still racing. Of course Stanton would be smart enough to 'borrow' the facility's layout plan and lock them away in her office. She wouldn't rush into an operation blind (with one or two exceptions), but the bottom line was that the blueprints existed. A new plan began to form, easily integrating itself into the original plan and adapting to it.

She rolled over onto her side, staring up at the bottom of Ari's bunk. The hyperactive woman hadn't been seen for several hours now, and she had to show up soon or face the consequences. Although KP wasn't going to cut it this time… Ari was already on it indefinitely. Maybe she'd be lucky for once and Stanton would overlook the transgression this time… once the colonel had cooled off. Come to think of it, Alexis needed Ari _now_, to either disarm or trigger the paint trap so that Alexis could get a look at the floor plans, to get an idea of what the ground teams would be handling.

Motivated now, Alexis swung her legs over the side of the bed, reaching for her boots as she did so. After she tugged those on, she stood up, prepared to leave, but a rustling sound stopped her as the two sealed envelopes fell from their spots on the bed and onto the floor. She quickly bent down and snatched them back up, stuffing them both under her pillow, where they would be out of sight until retrieved. She grabbed her jacket from where it was hanging on the side of her chair and slipped it on, more out of habit than necessity.

The hall outside her quarters was ominously silent, as though the atmosphere itself was the calm before the proverbial storm. She shivered to herself slightly as she began walking down toward the administrative offices; it was eight or so in the evening, and that meant Tom would be fast asleep by now and the other pilots and personnel would be winding down for the evening and or either preparing for the next day. Ari meanwhile would most likely be taking advantage of the colonel's absence to either get into more mischief or recover from her afternoon adventures. Obviously she wasn't in her quarters or she and Alexis would have had a chance to chat already, so that left either the mess hall or the hangars.

"Well, if it isn't the good captain?" a familiar voice asked from the shadows, causing Alexis to jump. She closed her eyes momentarily and tried to think of a good excuse as to why she would be sneaking around at this hour and why her heart would be racing at a figurative sixty miles per hour.

"Hey Starscream, not up to our usual tricks, are we?" she asked, smiling faintly as she turned on her heel to face him as he straightened up from where he had been leaning against the wall. "Or are you starting to go soft on me?" she teased as he scowled, and then she ducked as he faked a swing at her shoulder.

"Of course not. I'm saving it all up for Megatron when the time comes," he said, quirking an eyebrow up as he came to a stop right in front of her. He was obviously in a good mood, and that alone put her on edge… albeit just a little bit. "What is even better is that I found Megatron's little spy. The Autobots actually did something useful and locked the thing up and out of my way. Of course, I still don't know how much information that Scalpel transmitted before his capture, or if he is even still transmitting. But I suppose it still ends well; after all, what can he see or learn from a locked closet?" Starscream asked, still looking smug.

Alexis shrugged. "Maybe he can report what we have for cleaning supplies," she guessed, shrugging Starscream's brief cross expression off. She turned around to continue walking in search of Ari.

"Where are you headed anyway?" he suddenly asked, and she heard the distinctive _pop_ as he disappeared only to reappear straight in her path.

Alexis grinned momentarily before saying, "Ari. Looking for the troublemaker who _should_ still be alive." As Starscream scowled at the not-so-subtle assumption, she continued saying, "I need her to disarm one of her pranks so I can get something for General Skye before she gets back…"

Starscream appeared surprised. "You do realize that Aliskevicz has been outside for hours, correct? She and a few others were teaching Skywarp how to play a sport called 'baseball', and the only reason I know is because I closed the hangar doors after the ball hit _me_," he said irritably, drawing a laugh from Alexis.

"You can be a bit of a drama queen sometimes," she said, immediately putting her hands up in faux surrender when Starscream's jaw ticked. "All right, I'll tell her off after she helps me out," she said, and turned around to continue walking but in a different direction than she originally had in mind. Instead of disappearing however, Starscream followed her.

"What do you need to do?" she heard him ask.

She forgot about his curious nature. "There are going to be ground teams, led by NEST. General Skye…" she began.

"I won't tell on you if you use her first name. I know the two of you are friends," he interrupted, and she nodded.

"Right. Kina wanted to know what Major Lennox's plans for tomorrow were, so she could coordinate the aerial defense around his defense. Major Lennox already looked the floor plans over, and Kina just called saying she needed them…" Alexis began to explain but once again Starscream interrupted her.

"I already know you're lying. Major Lennox would be more cautious than to share his information with a captain, even if she did know NEST's secret of the Autobots," Starscream said smugly. "But it would still be a good idea to make Aliskevicz disarm that trap before the colonel finds it… where is it?"

"Administrators' offices. Chances are that Stanton will find it," Alexis said as she followed Starscream down the hall to the hangars. Starscream merely grunted in response as he easily kept pace with her.

A night breeze was blowing in from the open hangar doors, causing Alexis to shiver slightly as they entered despite the fact she was wearing her jacket. Starscream muttered something unintelligible about thickheaded humans and Decepticons alike as he disappeared from sight altogether. "I'm rather tempted to deliver an air strike on them. Something like, I don't know, paint? Or whatever they used in their latest shenanigan."

"That will only create a bigger mess, and we'll _both_ get into trouble," Alexis pointed out.

"Ah, but if Aliskevicz and her cronies attempt to shift blame, all of us will have to explain what provoked the incidents. Major Lennox should consider recruiting Aliskevicz to NEST, she will settle in happily with the troublemaking Autobot youngsters," Starscream's bodiless voice said as Alexis leaned against him, still watching the human-sized door that led to the outdoors.

"Nah, she's too scared of Ironhide to venture over to the Autobots. She's only seen him twice too," Alexis said, shrugging with one shoulder.

"I would be completely happy if Ironhide set the little terror straight for good," Starscream muttered darkly. "In fact, I believe an early-morning reunion is in order."

"Screamer, no one wants shrill screams at four in the morning," Alexis said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Good, because I was thinking more like two or three in the morning…"

"I was just using that as an example. Either way, not a good idea for everyone involved. Ari might lose a few years to her life span and Ironhide will be in an extra-grumpy mood," Alexis said, glancing up at the empty cockpit.

Starscream snorted. "Preston, if you've had the misfortune of knowing Ironhide as long as I have, you will see that this is one of his better moods. I know this only because he hasn't tried to kill me while I'm recharging yet," he said loftily, his disembodied voice echoing against the cavernous walls.

Alexis remained silent for a few moments. She wanted to ask him about the operation the next day, her role in it, where the pair of them stood relationship-wise, and so many other things. But judging from his tone, he was still wrapped up in other matters that didn't include her desired answers. "You love seeing Ari being miserable," she finally said, reluctantly settling for continuing the discussion. It was not a question or accusation, merely a statement of fact.

"Took you that long to figure that out? No wonder you're having trouble keeping up with everyone and everything," Starscream replied, the last part of his sentence disappearing into almost a low mutter that she heard anyway.

"And now you're going to harass her tonight?" she guessed.

"With or without your permission. I'd like to see you try and stop me if you didn't want me to," came the retort as the metallic side of the jet began to vibrate from the engines powering up through the metal she was leaning on.

She closed her eyes as she momentarily pondered her situation, weighed her options, and then decided to the do the irresponsible thing. "Can I come along for damage control?" she asked, stepping out so that she could turn around and look up at the empty cockpit.

"No."

Alexis let loose a breath through her teeth and then said, "I don't want my friend to be unnecessarily traumatized the night before we head out. I'll try to keep my interference to a minimum, okay?"

There was silence, and she guessed that Starscream was now mulling over her words. "Good point there, seeing that I do want her sane for the entertainment I have in mind for after the operation," he finally said. "Very well, hurry up before I change my mind again."

Unable to fight the grin that abruptly broke her otherwise fatigued facial features, Alexis jogged over to the nearest hangar wall where a foldable ladder was propped up against the storage cabinets. She carefully dragged over to the waiting jet, but blinked when she found Starscream's hologram waiting impatiently by the jet's body. After propping up the ladder against another F-22, Jay's by the looks of the scratches on the side, Starscream gave her the boost to get onto the jet's wing. Balancing herself carefully, she walked over to the cockpit, where the hatch was already open waiting for her. She slid into the familiar seat, remembering just in time not to jump in surprise as the straps sealed themselves in while the hatch closed. "What did you have in mind anyway?" she asked as the controls before her lit up and began moving of their own accord.

"Still thinking of it," came the short response as the jet slowly exited the hangar. There was a brief squawk of indignation from the air controller before Starscream switched the radio off, muttering something about the uselessness of those useless humans in their useless tower. "I can _see_ that the way is clear, and I don't really care about what the general or colonel ordered," he grumbled as he lined himself up on the runway.

"Yeah, but us lowly humans do not possess your superior visibility skills," Alexis replied, earning a huff of irritation from the jet.

"You _wish_ you had my talents."

"Actually, I'm quite content the way I am," she replied while repressing a smirk. She felt a little guilty, aiding and abetting Starscream in his campaign to make Ari miserable, but she felt a little free, the way she did long before she had been weighed down by her rank. She watched in relative silence as the jet began to gain speed on the long runway before finally lifting off the ground. She closed her eyes then, silently enjoying the sense of weightlessness.

_Chhh-chhhh… chunk, chunk…_

The second the engine started making clunking sounds Alexis knew that Starscream's mood was going to take a sudden turn for the worse. She felt the slight bump as the F-22 reluctantly and slowly lowered itself back to the runway, and gripped the controls tightly out of habit as the jet roared as it slowed down, the _clunk, clunk_ still audible as the Decepticon swung around back in the direction of the hangar. "I hope for your commander's sake that this isn't her idea of a good joke," Starscream growled as he finally crawled back into the hangar. "I also hope that your little friend has enough common sense to leave me alone," he added as the engine finally came to a shuddering halt.

"Does it feel… odd?" Alexis asked as she pushed back the canopy and climbed out onto the wing. She knelt slightly before jumping down to the hangar floor.

"Yes. It feels all clogged up and _stuck_… I think I can transform though," Starscream said as she backed away to give him space. She watched in silence as he began to transform into his natural bipedal form, but then frowned as he slowed down halfway through and finally stopped completely. Then she raised an eyebrow as he finally transformed back into the F-22 Raptor disguise.

"That bad?" she asked worriedly as his hologram reappeared by the jet's side.

He nodded as he knelt down by the engine hatch and studied the panels for a few moments before releasing it. He leaned forward, peering into the innards of the jet.

Then he snarled and stood up so abruptly that Alexis jumped. "What is it… oh," she said, her question dying once she spotted what looked like Riley's famous peanut butter and marshmallow concoction smeared all over the components.

"I have been very, very patient with Aliskevicz. More so than I have ever been with an Autobot. _However_, this crosses the line," Starscream growled, turning and approaching so that he had Alexis backed up against the jet itself.

"Just… just don't kill them," she finally managed to stammer as Starscream made eye contact with her and held her pinned with the force of his eyes alone.

"Looks like we just got here in the nick of time, aw guys don't stop because we're here!" Ari's unusually loud voice said, causing both Starscream and Alexis to take a step back from each other. They turned to see Ari and a few of her comrades walking back in from the outdoors, presumably the fields if the baseball bat, the multitude of smeared grass stains, and the catcher's mitt Riley was holding were anything to go by. Jay Perkins, Monica and Tobias however, took one look at Starscream's murderous expression and almost simultaneously turned around and began walking in the other direction, back outside. "Chickens. What's up guys? Have a nice flight?" Ari asked conversationally while resting the baseball bat on her shoulder. Skywarp, Riley and Tyler came to a stop surrounding her.

"Don't play that game with me, I know what you did," Starscream snarled, turning around to face them.

Ari looked alarmed, and then turned to her companions. "Okay, who talked, and how did you tell so fast?" she demanded, glaring at the others, Riley and Tyler shrugging while Skywarp looked puzzled. She turned around and sighed. "Okay, don't lose your pants, but we'll fix it…"

"I am _not _letting you anywhere near me without supervision!" Starscream snapped, causing Ari to take a step back while Skywarp, Alexis noticed, suddenly looked interested in the still-open hangar door.

"We don't even need to come near you! I said we would fix it before…"

"No. You will _clean_ it out. You will not be fixing anything, I don't need you messing around any longer than necessary!" Starscream snapped as he stormed toward Ari, who immediately began backing away, looking genuinely worried for once.

"Starscream, wait!" Alexis said, and he only momentarily halted. "Ari, what did you do?" she asked her friend, who looked scared for once.

"Nothing," Ari said almost automatically. Alexis reverted her gaze to Tyler, who let out a little whine when he realized what she was doing. Several silent minutes passed as Alexis stared pointedly at Tyler, who was finally beginning to tremble slightly in his place.

"It was the baseball!" he said, as usual unable to handle the pressure. "Jay hit it and it kinda went off into deep right field and broke a window that we _think_ belonged to one of the officers, but knowing our luck, it was probably the colonel's…" his voice trailed off as he saw Ari's and Starscream's reddening expressions, then cracked even more. "And we were going to do the marshmallow-peanut butter thing to Jay's jet but we couldn't find it so Skywarp picked the first jet he saw and… that was Stryker…" he said, faltering when he saw Starscream working and failing to bring his temper under control.

"You broke a window?" Alexis asked, staring at her friend.

Ari shrugged. "Grand slam, emphasis on 'slam'. And I thought Skywarp hit a home runner, it took two swimmers to find the ball in the river," she said. "This is our second bat… hey Screamer, I didn't know you could get that red in the face."

"See you later," Skywarp said before abruptly disappearing as Alexis began to back away

Riley completely missed the cues from Skywarp and Ari. "Well if you want to be technical Tyler, it was more that the ball went into a room that had more glass in it, because you could hear more tinkling after it went in," he said as Tyler's eyes widened and began to take a few steps back, looking at something off to the side.

"Clean. It. Up. Now." A voice snarled close to his ear.

Riley sighed and then turned to tell the speaker off. "Even if we wanted to, which I personally don't, we can't get close because it's restricted access and I don't want to get caught. If you're that worried about Stanton, then act your age and clean it up yourself," he snapped, his heart constricting slightly when he recognized a rather angry Stryker Davis. "Did… did I miss something?" he asked, his voice wavering as his apparent mistake began creeping up to him and a quick side-glance revealed Ari suppressing a laugh.

Ari cheerfully spoke first. "This is what ya missed. Even though Stryker's jet's all jammed up, that doesn't mean he can't kill us. Which he's going to do since Scotty set us up," she said, making sure she was keeping pace with Tyler. Alexis was definitely beginning to see how many of Stanton's migraines started, it was starting to feel like one was creeping up on her.

Riley's eyes widened as the full implications were weighed in his brain, and he nearly tripped over himself in an attempt to get away from the Seeker. "Split like there's no tomorrow!" he yelled as he began to run back outside, Starscream in swift pursuit.

"At this rate, there really won't be!" Tyler managed to get out, accidentally attracting Starscream's attention to himself and swearing when he realized his slight predicament. Ari seemed to hover momentarily between helping Tyler and saving her own skin before she managed to catch up to Starscream long enough to body slam into his side, knocking the two of them to the ground. Alexis coughed to cover her laughter as Ari recovered from the fall faster, using her forward momentum to roll back onto her feet and begin running in the same direction as Riley to the outdoors.

Starscream didn't immediately pursue them; in fact, he had gotten up and was walking back to Alexis even as she began to hurry over to help him up. He faced her and said, "I won't kill them, but I will make them eager never to mess with me again." With that he abruptly disappeared, and Alexis grimaced when she faintly heard Tyler's distinctive howl of terror a few moments later.

* * *

"Well, that should do the trick… hopefully. Now all we need is for incentive to draw Megatron there," Stanton said cheerfully as the unmarked white van came to a complete stop and she, Simmons, Major Lennox, and Kina all got out of the back. The lights of the Suffolk County Air Force base glittered against the night sky.

The disgruntled driver, the owner of the van, sent them a dirty look as his passenger, his work partner, managed to refrain from yet _another_ snarky comment about the two women present. Simmons, Kina remembered, had blackmailed the duo into taking the quartet of officers and agents back to the Suffolk County base. Technically the van hadn't been on federal property as much as Simmons had claimed, but the driver didn't have a map. Plus, neither the driver nor his partner could tell that the 'badge' that Simmons waved in their faces in the semi-darkness was actually expired… for at least two years. Irritated by Simmons's arrogant attitude, the driver and his companion spent the rest of the trip in a sulky silence since then.

"What do you plan to use for bait?" Major Lennox asked casually as the van tore out of the area, leaving the smell of burned rubber in its wake.

Stanton shrugged. "Was going to ask Starscream if he could tell his boss that he located the Witwicky boy at that place, and hope that Megatron would fall for it," she said, not noticing the slight flash of alarm across Major Lennox's face.

"Do you actually have Witwicky?" Lennox finally asked her.

She threw him an annoyed expression. "Of course not. When I asked two of my agents to seek him out at the University of Pennsylvania, he wasn't there and his roommate Leonardo Spitz said he was on vacation. I am _not_ about to comb the entire _world_ for a slippery teenager; I already have to deal with a bunch of teenagers right now. Going through the trouble and effort to add one more to the mix isn't going to help."

Only Kina saw the tiny expression of relief from the major, and didn't call him out on it. "So basically Starscream is going to lie to Megatron and hopefully Megatron will buy it?" she asked as she held the door open for Stanton and Simmons.

"Yes. If for some odd reason he was unwilling to lie, I was thinking of disguising Tyler to look like Sam so that Starscream could show Megatron a nice snapshot," Stanton said, offering a small look of smug satisfaction. Kina glanced at the major, who had raised an eyebrow at this but hadn't said anything.

"Are you coming too?" she asked Major Lennox, who shook his head.

"I'm going to head around and enter through the Autobots' half of the hangar. Good night, and see you bright and early tomorrow morning," he said before turning on his heel and turning to leave the hangar. Stanton narrowed her eyes at his retreating back.

"Why do I get the feeling he's hiding something, specifically Witwicky?" she finally asked.

Simmons shrugged. "Because you used up all your good instincts hunting me down and now they're leading you astray?" he suggested as Stanton threw him dark look.

"Probably because he asked you if you actually had Witwicky," Kina suggested as the two women began walking down the hallway to the administrators' offices. She glanced at her watch and said, "I'm going to deal with an SOS from Tyler, something about 'violation of the cruel and unusual punishment clause' in the Constitution."

Stanton snorted. "If either he or Ari get within visual range, I'll be happy to show both of them how effectively I can get my point across _without_ legally violating the 'cruel and unusual punishment'," she said, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"You ever wonder that you might be _too_ harsh on them?"

Stanton glared at Kina, and then said, "With all due respect, _General_, if you recall when you were a lieutenant under my command, you'll remember that I decided I wasn't disciplining them _enough_ because Ari was still causing a ruckus."

Kina sighed, refraining from visibly reacting to the colonel's words. Simmons fell back behind the colonel as the other woman stalked back toward the admin offices. "What up with her?" he muttered as they followed the colonel.

"I don't know, reacting to stress? If this had been any point before now, I'd say that she was cranky because of something you did," Kina replied calmly as they walked down the hall, Stanton waiting crossly by the door. "Is the door stuck or something?" Kina teased, knowing full well that Stanton didn't have her keys; Kina had had the pleasure of confiscating them after Stanton had threaten to key the van's door if the drivers didn't help them out. "Since you were such a nice little girl on the way back, you may have your keys back," she said, smiling as she handed over the lanyard. Stanton scowled and unlocked the door to the offices, but faltered when her gaze rested on Simmons.

"Don't you have something better to be doing than following me?" Stanton asked testily after a few moments of silence.

Simmons rolled his eyes in annoyance as Kina picked up her cell phone as it buzzed again, but something about the caller ID made her raise an eyebrow. "Just go ahead, I'm not going to do anything behind your back," Simmons snapped crossly as Kina answered her phone.

Stanton did a rude hand gesture in his direction before pushing the door open all the way and walking in.

_Sploosh!_

Kina's mouth fell open in shock while Simmons tried unsuccessfully to suppress a snort of laughter. Neon yellow paint this time dripped from Stanton's still form and onto the tiled floor. This time, since she was closer, Kina could actually see where the paint bucket had been rigged. "Tyler," she said slowly into the phone to the ex-pilot, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about neon yellow paint in the administrators' offices, would you?"

She could hear Tyler's gulp over the phone, and then he said, "_**Um, no. Can you please come and untie me before Davis finds out I still have a phone? He's going to go kill Ari."**_

"I'm sure whatever it was over, she deserved it," Kina muttered, looking at Stanton who had gone still and rigid in the threshold to the offices. Yes, Stanton was going to need some serious alone time now, especially since she had cold-blooded murder in her mind at the moment. Obviously it wasn't toward Simmons at the moment, but Stanton's itchy trigger finger might persuade the colonel's brain that Simmons made an acceptable substitute for her two pilots. She took Simmons's shoulder and gently pulled him away and around the corner before Stanton could turn around and spot them escaping. Simmons, for once, accepted her judgment and allowed her to pull him away from the fuming colonel.

"That happen often?" he muttered to the general, who nodded.

"More often than it really should," Kina muttered back as she hung up. "I'm going to go check on Tyler, I want to make sure that Starscream isn't leaving a trail of corpses for us to find."

"Sure thing."

She glared at him. "Leave the colonel alone. That is an order… and I won't be responsible for anything that happens to you because you disobeyed me," she said coolly before marching off to find the missing pilots.

Simmons listened to her footsteps, and when he was sure they were far gone enough, he went back around the corner to prod Stanton a little more… Kina apparently forgot that she had already confiscated Stanton's small firearms a couple days ago.

They would make the first play in the game tomorrow morning. Kina wasn't even sure if they had a good hand for this last round, and hoped they would not have to bluff their way through the operation.


	30. Veils

Thirty

Veils

The new day started with doubt.

At first, Tyler Collins put it down as after-effects from the illness he kept experiencing ever since he almost completely lost his eyesight. But as he stared at the empty, blurry space that was supposed to be the bottom of the bunk above him, he realized that the sickening doubt feeling was actually his 'flight' sense telling him to get the hell out of Suffolk County while he still had the capability to do so. Previous experience told him however that the medical staff wasn't going to let him go so easily, not with an excuse of 'something doesn't feel right'.

He sighed before rolling out of bed… literally. Gritting his teeth to remain as quiet as possible, he reached underneath his bed for his already-filled knapsack and pulled it out before clambering to his feet. Then, forgetting he was still in his sleepwear, he pulled on his sneakers and padded out into the empty hall.

Using a route he'd memorized a long time ago, he slowly made his way toward the base kitchens. He could hear a nearby custodian working in one of the storage rooms as Tyler walked by. Wilson was snoring loudly in his quarters, and Tyler was unsure whether the sergeant was aware that the walls weren't exactly soundproof. Then again, not many personnel would be up at five-thirty in the morning anyway. Not when Ari had to be rescued from another custodial closet after antagonizing Stryker Davis for the umpteenth time in her career.

Davis wasn't as smart as Tyler initially pegged him to be; Davis somehow kept coming back to Ari's turf after leaving each time.

Tyler didn't realize that the kitchen was occupied when he carefully pushed the heavy double doors open. His only warning of another living creature in the room was the scrape of a ceramic mug against the steel counter. That and the distinct smell of French vanilla creamer that permeated the atmosphere as he neared the source. His sixth sense suddenly flared up, and so he managed to avoid stepping on Stanton's foot.

"Ma'am," he muttered by way of an apology as he slowly moved around her.

"Collins," she said by way of a greeting. She fell silent as her attention moved from the printed email in her hands to the man that used to fly in her squadron. She watched as he slowly pulled a small lunchbox from the shelf. "Do you need any assistance?" she finally asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No ma'am… wait, yes ma'am. My sister is sick, and wants me to help around the house. I need a lift to Grand Central Station as soon as possible… ma'am," Tyler said, turning in the colonel's general direction.

There was a momentary silence, and then Stanton asked, "So let me get this straight. You want to go to Grand Central, to help your 'sick sister', and go in your Spiderman pajamas?"

_Ouch, forgot about those_. "Erm… yes ma'am," he stammered.

She was quiet for another moment before she said, "Very well. I'll ask Sergeant Wilson to assist you to the train station." Stanton was careful not to call to attention to the fact that Tyler was a single child.

"Actually, I'd like to go now. Sergeant Wilson can sleep…I can ask someone else. I just need your permission, ma'am," Tyler said, twisting the lunchbox handle in his hands.

"…Okay, you have my permission to go," she said slowly, and could only watch in bemusement as Tyler turned and left the kitchen somewhat quickly after mumbling his thanks. Then she turned back to her email, her doubts about her pilot momentarily shoved to the back of her mind as she perused the email once more. Orders to return to her post in the East China Sea… two days ago. Then she wadded the email up into a ball and threw it away into the kitchen trash, where tattles like Major Lennox couldn't easily find it and call her out. Then she stood up and briskly left the kitchen herself.

Stanton always remembered Tyler Collins as the queer one, the squadron's personal oddball. It was Kina Skye who summed up what everyone else was thinking, and jokingly labeled Tyler as the 'yellow canary' of the 401st. Her reasoning had been that Tyler's 'flight' response was more finely tuned than anyone else on the squadron. But whatever misgivings Tyler had experienced before the 401st left for Mission City that fateful spring day was a secret to everyone but him. Stanton personally suspected that the leftover trauma from Mission City threw his internal systems completely out of whack, more so than usual. This in turn led to his failure of detecting the multiple traitors within her ranks, from Rad White's attempted and successful assassinations to Starscream's duplicity and worming into the Air Force. While she knew she couldn't blame everything on Tyler, his senses had been accurate up to Mission City. Tyler's flight this time around made her even more nervous than ever, especially since she trusted Decepticons and her planned operation was completely illegal.

Well, her half and her involvement was illegal. The government clearly loved Major Lennox and _his_ people.

She found Lennox in the hangars, already awake, dressed in fatigues, and planning something with Ironhide… or at least she thought that particular holoform was Ironhide. The Autobot weapons specialist actually made her quite nervous, but she tried to not let it show as she stood patiently in the doorway, waiting for Lennox to notice her standing there.

Ironhide spotted her first. He said something in a low voice to Lennox, and then disappeared. Lennox meanwhile looked up and offered a half-smile when he saw her there. "Ma'am, how are you doing this early in the morning?" he asked, sounding too cheerful for someone who just woke up.

"Not well, Collins just flew the coop," she said, neglecting to mention the other thing that was bothering her. She let out an impatient sigh at Lennox's baffled expression and said, "The last time he tried, my husband died and I was nearly charged with treason. Something is about to go down, and it means hell for the rest of us."

"_Well,_ it could have something to do with the fact that you had an error in judgment, and he knows it so he's understandably nervous," Lennox said conversationally as he rolled up the map he'd been reading, and it vanished within his bag. "That, and the fact that while you have us tied up here in New York, we could have possible Decepticon activity on the other side of the world…"

" 'Possible'? You never struck me as the type to go chasing after butterflies while the hornets were coming for New York," Stanton interrupted, feeling her temper rise.

"May I remind you that you're the one _trying _to attract the hornets?" Lennox pointed out.

On the other side of the hangar, while the voices of the two officers continued to rise, any Autobots that _had_ been resting were now roused into wakefulness. Ironhide, who had been discussing tactics with Lennox when Stanton arrived, was settling back into recharge when verbal argument started. Due to his sensitive sensors, Ratchet however picked up on the fight almost immediately, but refrained from losing his temper, especially since he also detected that Sideswipe was coming around. It turned out there was no point; a shrill horn blast courtesy of Sideswipe stopped the argument in its tracks and sent both participants scurrying from the hangar altogether. Ratchet presumed that the pair would simply continue the fight elsewhere where they either couldn't be overheard or couldn't disturb others.

One of the twins spoke first, breaking the silence.

"Why… so… early? Not even half of the humans are awake," Skids complained. There was a metallic _thunk_ somewhere in the hangar, and then Skids snapped, "Mudflap, get offa me, or you're gonna be missing parts."

"Humans were causing another ruckus. One of the few consistencies I've noticed between each one is that even if they are old or just sparklings, they can be extremely _loud_," Jolt grumbled from his corner of the hangar.

"Like you're any better," Skids taunted.

"That's Sideswipe you're describing there," Jolt replied, easily moving aside as Sideswipe tried to slam against him in retaliation.

"Did any of you notice that humans are grabby too? Remember those adolescents, Jolt? Right after we went public with our new alt forms? It was as though there was this wave of multicolored flesh coming straight for you. I nearly hit a few just trying to escape," Sideswipe said as he inched away from the bickering twins. "The horn on this form is really one of the few things on this planet that can _really_ make 'em scatter. Look at Lennox and the other human as an example. One blast and they're both gone like there's no tomorrow."

"Knowing your temper, there wouldn't have been a tomorrow," Ratchet grumbled.

"Don't forget that humans can be demanding too. When we were in the humans' capital city a couple of Earth months ago, I saw a young female lose her temper just because the maternal parent refused to purchase some candy… or at least I thought it was candy. It was something brightly colored covered in plastic wrapping… humans are so wasteful sometimes…" Jolt said, almost shuddering visibly in his frame. There was a faint _whirr_ as he transformed into his natural form and stretched, ignoring the faint creaks and the one pop. He paused in his actions as though to look around the hangar, and then he asked, "Where is Optimus?"

"With a few of our allies surveying that nearby site the colonel selected a few days ago. Her inexperience with fighting Decepticons is painfully obvious if she believes she can dictate the terms of a battle to a Decepticon," Ironhide grumbled as the twins stopped fighting each other long enough to follow Jolt's example.

"Even many of our human allies in N.E.S.T. are not completely prepared to fight the Decepticons, regardless of previous history of encountering them. Optimus and I have spoken with Major Lennox about training our human allies in case the Decepticons try to attack again en masse," Ratchet said soothingly. "I doubt Megatron will move against us so soon after his defeat at Jordan, he will try to recuperate first. Now Starscream on the other hand has fallen so far from his master's grace that _he_ might try something."

"That could explain why he was so eager to get rid of that little Decepticon, Scalpel. To either leave a surprise for Megatron or try to, as the humans call it, _upstage_ Megatron and reclaim leadership of the Decepticons… he would do something like that, wouldn't he?" Jolt asked, ducking slightly to avoid whacking one of the light fixtures.

"And the humans wouldn't see it coming, even if it was happening right in front of them. The Decepticon slagger must love that," Ironhide grumbled.

"Starscream can't really do much at the moment. Between the constant attention from the Air Force pilots and keeping an eye on Skywarp, Starscream is distracted enough so that he cannot communicate with the other Decepticons at the moment. Besides, Skyfire has been discreetly monitoring the Seeker trine and so far nothing of note has happened," Ratchet calmly pointed out. He was refusing to give in to the temptation of losing his temper, but the more Ironhide pressed on, the more Ratchet was failing.

"If he's planning a coup against Megatron, then he _doesn't_ need to contact the other Decepticons."

"That's not his style. He'd want witnesses at the very least, an audience at the very most. He _wants_ the others to see him triumph and do something that Megatron couldn't to prove that he's the better leader," Ratchet countered, feeling his ire beginning to steadily rise. "Also, he may be a coward, but he's not stupid. It's three of them against nine of us, four of them in the off chance that Barricade wants in the action. That is also _not_ including our human allies, who easily make up in size with sheer numbers."

"Numbers that can easily be reduced from a Decepticon standpoint."

Ratchet exhaled sharply through his side vents, mentally reminding himself that while Optimus was absent from Suffolk County, command fell to Skyfire but left Ratchet as the oldest Autobot in the hangar. Which also meant that Ratchet had to do the undesirable task of setting an example and not lose his temper in front of the younger four Autobots, five once Bumblebee returned with Sam from their very-early-morning excursion into New York City. Meanwhile the other four were now quiet, even the twins, and were listening to the latest argument. "Ironhide, I am afraid that I will have to agree with Epps. You _are_ a pessimist," Ratchet finally said in a weary tone.

Ironhide growled slightly while Jolt stifled a sound that would have most likely been a snort if it had come from a human. "I _still_ say he's up to no good. He's just extra sneaky at hiding it," Ironhide snapped, and Jolt fell silent almost right away. "The second we lower our guards…"

He never got to finish his warning. The door that led into the base opened and Lennox came in, looking strangely triumphant. His hair was sticking up in all sorts of directions, and he had a slight gleam in his eye. He looked in Ironhide's direction and said, "Your 'discussion' with Ratchet was violent enough to disrupt the communications between here and the traffic control tower. Enabled me to win _my_ fight, but I was also able to put Stanton back in her proper place in line without risking direct insubordination. She got _really_ distracted there at the end," he said, leaning against the small table as Ironhide finally transformed into his proper form. "It's going to be a long day, I can tell. Not even six-thirty and there's already been two full blown-out arguments."

"May I ask as to exactly how you figured out it was Ironhide and I disagreeing, not Ironhide and one of the younger Autobots?" Ratchet asked as he followed Ironhide's example and transformed as well, mindful of the now-threatening light fixtures.

"You mean other than you just confirming it? Ratchet, Ironhide lived with my family and I before NEST was formed. I learned quickly enough that Ironhide is most definitely not what we humans call a 'morning person'. He and Sarah were both absolute monsters before she had her first cup of coffee and he had a decent chance to wake up," Lennox explained, quirking an eyebrow as he placed his hands down on the table on either side of him to lean on. "As for how I knew it was you and not Skids, I also knew from experience that only you, Optimus, and Skyfire had a remote chance of holding out that long in an argument with Ironhide. Optimus isn't back yet and Skyfire is still either flying or going an early morning flight with his new friend. Our pals nearby haven't made a peep all morning; Starscream was in a bit of a gooey mess the last time I checked, which was last night. So logically, it _had_ to be Ratchet who was still in here, 'discussing' things with Ironhide."

Ratchet nodded thoughtfully while Jolt let out a low-pitched whistle through his speakers. "I suppose then, that is logically correct," Ratchet said, tilting his head at Lennox. He turned back to Lennox and asked, "What is it that the colonel wanted?"

Lennox shrugged. "I don't think we ever got to what she wanted because we both got distracted. But she was nervous when she came in because one of her pilots just left Suffolk County because of a whacked out sixth sense that he had. I told her it was because of her decision to keep Starscream and his two buddies around. Then I started critiquing some of her other bad decisions, in this operation and the ones before, and the whole conversation sort of spiraled out of control from there. Hopefully she'll forget that she and I were technically still bickering and not hunt me down for insubordination," he said, grinning sheepishly. "I told her off a bit, said things I wouldn't _normally_ say to a superior officer. She still needed to hear it though," he added, grimacing at the memory.

"Why did you say them then?" Ratchet asked.

"It was one of those 'heat of the moment' situations."

"I don't like her," Ironhide said curtly.

"Not many people do nowadays, and she knows it," Lennox said grimly. "Actually, I was talking to General Skye and Jeremy Stanton, her son, just last night about relieving Stanton of duty on the spot if she went too far, and it's starting to look like it." He looked past Ratchet and Ironhide and noted that Skids and Mudflap were playing some form of tetherball with one of the hanging light fixtures. The light bulb had already died, but there was still plenty of glass and metal to cause injury to the humans if that thing fell. "Maybe I should open the hangar doors for the twins before they cause more damage. It's shaping up to be a beautiful day outside, Jolt and Sideswipe can get some fresh air as well," he said, standing up and walking over to the master control panel and pressing a few commands into it.

Ironhide muttered something in Cybertronian before he said, "What of the humans here?"

Lennox shrugged as the massive hangar doors pulled open, letting sunlight spill into the cavernous room. "We're miles from the nearest town, and I think that most if not all of the base staff and crew know about you guys anyway," he said as the four younger Autobots abruptly transformed and tore out of the hangar, leaving the smell of fuel and burned rubber in their wake.

"That's too many people if you ask me," Ironhide muttered.

"Before we got dragged way out here, Optimus and I were talking to the Director of Homeland Security about the level of secrecy surrounding NEST. He thinks the Autobots should go public since the truth is becoming harder and harder to contain, and the people are already pressuring Congress and the federal government to come clean about Mission City and Jordan. It's hard to forget crises like that, especially with the death tolls," Lennox explained. "Plus, if this happens again, which hopefully it won't, the government won't have to spend millions just to hush people up."

"I blame the Spitz kid then," Ironhide said.

"The government paid Leo several thousand dollars in compensation and hush money. They also threatened to send him to Alcatraz if he continued to talk, which for a conspiracy buff is a pretty strong invitation," Lennox said, grinning faintly.

"I was under the impression that Alcatraz was decommissioned from its use as a federal prison," Ratchet said, sounding puzzled.

Lennox just grinned. "You shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet, Ratchet. Besides if Leo does decide to test them, I'm sure the government can and will find a prison that is just as bad if not worse than Alcatraz," he said, finally just sitting down on the table.

_Beep, beep, beep!_

_/Skyfire to Ratchet/_

Ratchet and Ironhide glanced at each other, the same thought running thorugh their processors. Had Starscream finally decide to move? /_Ratchet here, what is it?/ _Ratchet finally replied.

_/Starscream and his companions have left for New York City. There was no warning, he wasn't even communicating beforehand. Thundercracker and Skywarp are with him, but are lagging behind and at a higher altitude. I suspect they are to deter pursuers./_

Ironhide growled before jumping into the conversation._ /I thought we determined that he wasn't going anywhere because of that mischief the pilots were up to the night before!/_ he snarled into the link.

_/Well obviously he got it cleaned away. I am dropping Miss Rivers off before attempting pursuit and a rescue./_

Ratchet's processor raced as he thought of all the potential loose ends. /_And Sam? Is he and Bumblebee still in the city?/_ he asked, hoping that Sam was not going to be a target and that he was just overreacting.

_/Yes, but Bumblebee just contacted me saying that Barricade has appeared and has initiated pursuit. I am leaving now to provide assistance to Bumblebee…/_

_/No! Stop Starscream first, and then go to Bumblebee. Bumblebee has evaded Barricade before, even with human charges. But if Starscream gets there he will not hesitate to destroy the city in his pursuit of the boy/_ Ironhide barked as he transformed back into the GMC Topkick, startling Lennox._ /I will contact Optimus and warn him/_

Ratchet turned to face Lennox, who already seemed aware that there was a problem.

"Starscream?" Lennox asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, and we don't know his objective… there are only a few possibilities with no clear path," Ratchet said as he swiftly transformed and revved the engine. "We've determined that Sam might be the target, and that New York City might be the battlefield," he added, feeling a momentary flash of concern when Lennox visibly paled.

"All right, let me get some reinforcements and find General Skye," Lennox said before turning and sprinting for the door.

Ratchet paused, and then turned to leave after Ironhide.

To battle.

* * *

The day started with hope.

First off, Starscream and Thundercracker had spent a good part of the night cleaning the gunk out from Starscream's engine. Ari was currently hospitalized for medical treatment for any potential damage she might have received when Starscream tackled and hung her up by the ankle the night before. The second good thing to happen was that he had a clean engine the next morning when he came online to an incoming transmission from Barricade. The fool Autobot Bumblebee had _finally_ ventured from the safety of Suffolk County with that insufferable human, the one that managed to kill Megatron two years ago and defeated the Decepticons again less than one year ago.

Humans would call Witwicky's repeated successes as pure dumb luck. Starscream saw it as blatant testimonies to Megatron's incompetence as a leader. So once the Seeker returned to Earth the second time after 2007, around fourteen months after leaving the 401st, he scoured the terrain looking for Barricade, careful to stay under the humans' radar. It took him a little while, but he soon found the Decepticon hunter killing time by harassing various law enforcements with a female human accomplice. After hassling the hunter, Barricade finally agreed to work with Starscream in Starscream's latest bid for total power and credibility. But since the Autobots were a major threat in Starscream's book, the Seeker left for Cybertron to gather more reinforcements while Barricade went back to keeping a lower profile.

But now Barricade was ready to carry out his part of the plan, especially when he heard of the embarrassing defeat for the Decepticon forces in Jordan. While he would help Starscream get to Witwicky, he was going to let the Seeker take the final blow. So much planning had gone into this particular scheme; defeat Megatron's killer, show the other Decepticons that he, the great Starscream, was better than Megatron, and then defeat the old leader once and for all. Then his next step was to assume complete control of leadership, and the last one was to eliminate _all_ threats to his position... Cybertronian or not. The factor that set this scheme apart from the numerous others he'd had in the past was that this time, Starscream was manipulating the humans into helping him.

The only difference between Megatron's way of controlling humans and Starscream's method was that Starscream didn't have to waste energy threatening or coercing the humans into doing as he said without question.

It was too easy.

He ignored the static-filled squawk from the air traffic controller. Instead, he sent a casual EMP blast at it, effectively killing all of the electronics inside. As he finally took off for the sky, he sensed Skywarp and Thundercracker behind him and reflected on the long and difficult road they all had taken in order to get the three Seekers and Barricade reintegrated with human society. He remembered the effort they had exerted into locating a human who was a pilot but had already died years before. It had been through simple luck that Barricade had a few humans under his control, enough to pose as Tegan Cromwell's wife, son, and brother-in-law. Even the colonel, once she had returned from wherever she'd been previously, easily bought the story of Cromwell's return without too much fuss. He had hoped that Alexis would welcome him back without suspicion, and was pleased when he received open arms. This put him in the perfect spot to strike at the others from. Of course, there were the few… occasions where he was forced to take somewhat extreme measures to ensure his apparently esteemed status in Alexis's mind. Then after that, it took a few tweaks and whispers to a restless officer in order to maneuver the squadron to Suffolk County within easy flying distances to major human-populated areas… areas that would easily tempt a bored young male human.

Starscream was starting to bore of manipulating humans; they were so dumb that they made it incredibly easy. There hadn't been any _challenge_ for days. Thankfully, he was close to eliminating two groups of enemies; one who hunted Decepticons on purpose, and the other whose sometimes leader made it a side hobby to eliminate Decepticons. Starscream hadn't forgotten his interesting adventure in Washington DC yet.

_/Thundercracker to Starscream/_

The crackle of the link and Thundercracker's voice distracted Starscream. /_What is it?/_

_/Remember when we decided to leave because the Autobot Skyfire was sufficiently distracted?/_

_Uh-oh_. /_Yes, why are you bringing it up now?/_ Starscream sent back.

_/He's coming up fast on Skywarp's six/_

_/WHAT? WHY IS HE COMING FOR _ME_?/_ Skywarp screeched, nearly rivaling Starscream's record volume. /_TC, GET HIM OFF!/_

_/If I told you once, I've told you a thousand times. NEVER CALL ME THAT!/_

Starscream growled over the link, effectively shutting up his two wingmen. /_Skywarp, turn around and go after him! You have teleportation for a reason!/ _he growled at the purple Seeker.

_/Right…oh, I do love teleporting nasty Autoscum. I do hear that the Arctic is nice this time of year… I hope Skyfire has a reservation!/ _Skywarp cackled as he turned around sharply to meet Skyfire head on in the sky.

_/Pest/_ Thundercracker muttered, and it was hard to tell if he meant Skyfire or Skywarp.

_/Make sure he actually succeeds… and tell him to hurry up!/_ Starscream ordered, his words ending in a screech as something hot and deadly abruptly skimmed his wing, forcing him to dip to the right to avoid the missile.

_/That was actually from a human… I think/_ Thundercracker replied as Starscream rolled to avoid a collision with a sabot-scatter round; this came from a F-15 Eagle jet that had something yellow for an insignia. Another squadron then, which meant that the 401st or whatever number they were nowadays was still scrambling to get together. Which meant that Starscream had a few more minutes before the battle got extremely nasty.

_/What is Skywarp's status?/_ Starscream asked after narrowly avoiding two F-15s that tried to box him in. Where the slag did all these fighters come from and so fast?

_/Unknown. But I still see Skyfire gaining on us… excuse me, never mind. Skywarp just took care of him. Now we've just got these humans and the Autobots to worry about/_

_Those fragging Autobots._ Starscream considered himself to be an extremely intelligent member of his species, but the one thing he could never figure out was why the Autobots always felt the persistent need to squash his plans for a coup d'état against Megatron. Was Starscream really just that unlucky or just that poor of a candidate to replace Megatron? Or was Starscream somehow consistently in contradiction with the Autobot ideals? Did the Autobots really prefer Megatron over Starscream or something like that? If they ever captured him again, Starscream planned to ask the Autobots because now he was slightly curious.

He wished Megatron hadn't killed the Fallen. It would be nice to know if all Primes were a serious pain in the aft like Optimus was.

_/How many Autobots?/_ he asked finally.

Thundercracker was silent for a moment._ /Seven, but two are missing. Skyfire and the scout are the two missing, but we're still missing Skywarp. He has neither reported in nor reappeared. Watch your right/_ he said calmly.

Starscream dived in time to avoid the heat-seeking missile, and felt the heat as Thundercracker fired his own weapons at the missile to keep it from tracking him. Starscream then twisted around in midair so that he was now skyrocketing for the diving F-15. The pilot was either extremely stupid or determined since he did not pull out of the dive. Starscream didn't mind, the pilot's foolishness made it easy to line up the Vulcan cannons and open fire. A few rounds reduced the F-15 and its pilot into chunks of charred metal and ashes raining down from the brightening sky.

The first kill of the day.

_/Autobots right below us. Ironhide is taking aim, but I have a feeling he won't fire because we're surrounded by humans right now/_ Thundercracker reported, unknowingly stealing Starscream's tiny sense of victory.

Starscream uttered a soft snarl as he tricked one F-15 into flying into another; the lower pilot didn't see the diving F-15 until after Starscream moved out of the man's line of sight. The Pit-spawned jets, as annoying as they were, Starscream knew they were only creating a diversion to give the heavier-armed squadron a chance to take flight and catch up. The two Decepticons unfortunately had to keep the F-15s around and in one piece in order to maintain the smokescreen and protect themselves from the Autobots on the ground.

Enough.

_/Thundercracker, follow my lead/_ he ordered, leaving no room in his tone for any argument from his subordinate. Then, without waiting for any acknowledgement of the order, Starscream simply turned and opened fire on the F-15s, not caring whether he hit his targets or not. Thundercracker meanwhile, swooped down from above to draw the Autobots' fire away from Starscream and heckled them just to give Ironhide something to shoot at that wasn't the Seeker leader. It took Starscream a few moments, but at last thinned out the cloud of F-15s enough so that he could make a clean break for New York City. Thundercracker followed, leaving the Autobots in their wake and finishing off the remaining F-15s to discourage pursuit.

_/Starscream, Optimus and Ratchet have broken away to keep up with you at the very least, the others are not too far behind. Speed is key here with them. Oh, and Skywarp's back. Stay away from him; he's glowing red all over, his color is completely gone and he has steam and smoke coming off of him. Only Primus knows where he went off too… idiot just came out of a cloud, no wonder he has all that steam coming off of him/_ Thundercracker said, turning one-hundred and eighty degrees to avoid a blast from the silver Autobot Jolt.

Starscream did a 360-degree scan and found Skywarp just off his left flank; the usually purple Seeker was indeed several hundred degrees hotter than normal for a Cybertronian. /_What happened?/_

_/Tried to take Skyfire into the Pacific, specifically the trench where the humans dropped Lord Meg… uh, I mean, Megatron, and overshot the target. Skyfire wouldn't stop squirming. Didn't realize that there were volcanoes underwater. Won't make that mistake again/_ Skywarp said, sounding oddly cheerful over the link for someone who made that grievous an error.

_/Any problems then?/_

_/Other than the fact that Skyfire is a _lot_ bigger than I remembered and that there's another squadron of fighter jets armed to the teeth coming after us, no, there really aren't any problems/_ Skywarp said, still sounding cheerful.

Starscream, caught off guard that the F-22 Raptors were almost caught up to them _already_, sent a brief 100-yard scan around himself again. Nothing was there except his two fellow Seekers.

Well, he sure definitely wasn't going to turn around to check. Or send Skywarp to distract the incoming fighters because Starscream needed the fool to help him fight Optimus, Ironhide, and Ratchet when the fighting got thick. The medic, while something of what the humans called a 'pacifist', was still too dangerous of an opponent to underestimate.

_/Skywarp, what is the status on Thundercracker?/_

_/Banged up but ready for the actual fight/_ Thundercracker said crossly.

_/Very well. I have a lock on Barricade's signal but we'll have to move fast because New York has tight air restrictions… which means that the Autobots and the incoming squadron won't be the only opponents present/_ Starscream announced grimly, but he could sense Skywarp's eagerness and Thundercracker's focus.

New York was going to be a challenge. Starscream _loved_ challenges.

If he were human, or in his biped form, Starscream would be grinning broadly as he proudly entered New York airspace.

The clock for all of his enemies was now steadily ticking.

**A/N: Spiderman and all related media belong to Marvel.**


	31. In Medias Res

Thirty-One

In Medias Res

"Excuse me?"

"_WHAT?"_

The Air Force corporal jumped a few feet in the air before stumbling backwards as both Major Lennox and Colonel Stanton broke off their argument about responsibility long enough to yell at the corporal for interrupting them. The corporal scrambled back to his feet before swallowing nervously. "We're losing contact with the traffic control tower, there is fluctuating external signal interference," he stammered, mentally grimacing at the slight, unprofessional wobble in his voice.

"Probably Ratchet or Ironhide or both," Lennox said grimly. "I'll go see to it," he added before turning on his heel and more or less storming out of the command center. He paused long enough to salute and say 'Good Morning' to a baffled Kina Skye before he disappeared around the corner.

"Wow, talk about a catfight early in the morning… Colonel, your harshness to the corporal was completely unnecessary. Please apologize," Kina said, her eyes narrowing slightly as she sipped her coffee.

Stanton gave the corporal a thin smile, and the latter managed a shaky one in return. "My apologies, corporal. Now what was it you were saying about the air traffic control tower earlier?" she asked, still smiling although it was starting to appear more forced than genuine.

The corporal gave a half-hearted shrug, suddenly self-conscious that he had the full and undivided attention of two high-ranking officers, one of whom had both screamed at him and apologized to him in less than a span of ten minutes. "The… the air traffic control tower has patchy communications with us, and what I mean by that is that the controller goes in and out of clarity… and, well, you know what I mean. Ma'am!" he said, quickly adding in the last word when he saw Stanton's jaw muscle twitch at the omission when addressing a general.

"Really? When did it start?" Kina asked as she sat down at one of the communication workstations, evidently ignoring the air of hostility that was still prevalent in the room.

"A couple of hours ago, ma'am."

"Did you check the equipment cables? That walking disease is on base again. Remember Skye, how much that damned pet of Riley's liked to chew on the cables back in our home base?" Stanton said while glancing over in Kina's direction. One of the communication technicians meanwhile ducked down underneath the worktables to check.

"Charlie? Yes, I remember. You were so desperate to get rid of him that you once offered one month's leave to the person who would bring you the pelt. Then Captain Thompson teamed up with Riley and gave you another raccoon pelt just to get the free vacation," Kina said, grinning broadly at the memory. She turned when two officers abruptly stood up from their searching.

"Ma'am, we checked all the cables and everything is fine. It might be something wrong on Air Control's end," one of the officers said, glancing over at Stanton as he spoke.

Stanton closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose while Kina sighed. "If it's Skywarp screwing around again, I'm going to introduce him to the concept of the after-life. Or ask Ironhide to introduce Skywarp for me," Stanton said slowly. "Caught him the other day sending little EMP blasts at various parts of the base and I _thought_ I told him to cut it out or else…"

"I'm surprised you got close enough to him to tell him that without risk getting stepped on," Kina said, sounding faintly surprised. She turned to the corporal and the other communication technicians. "It's probably just our guests affecting the frequency, don't worry about it too much. There aren't any flights scheduled until later this afternoon. In the meantime, get into contact with the air traffic controller via phone or email and let whoever is on duty know of the present circumstances."

"Yes, ma'am," one of the supervising officers replied before he turned to readjust something on his panel.

Stanton scowled as she watched the officers and technicians moving around, fixing connections and recalibrating the equipment to better handle the frequency interference. "How do you get them to do what you want so easily? I swear I lost five to ten minutes arguing with the staff chief or whoever was in charge when I was still in command," she said as she moved out of the way of another technician.

Kina arched an eyebrow. "Well, for starters, tone is fifty percent of the equation. A level head is thirty percent, and politeness is twenty percent. Now which one of these do you usually have the most difficulty with?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest and tilting her head at Stanton.

Stanton narrowed her eyes slightly. "I resent the implication… _ma__'__am_," she said coolly.

"I wasn't aware there was an implication," Kina said mildly as she sipped her coffee again.

Stanton chose not to pursue the argument anymore.

Kina turned from Stanton and caught the eye of another personnel member. "Lieutenant, will you please run a diagnostic on all electrical systems within this air base once you're done with the communications? I just want to make sure that no other systems are affected by the same interference as Air Control," she said, the other officer jumping to attention as she spoke.

"Yes ma'am!" he said, snapping off a salute before he promptly returned to his workstation.

Stanton arched an eyebrow. "Okay, now I _know_ that was partially to prove a point. The staff isn't deaf," she said.

Kina shrugged. "You're just overreacting like you always do," she said as she stood up. "Now I will be right back, I'm just getting more coffee. Lieutenant?" she said, and the man paused in running the diagnostics to look up at her. "No major decisions without my consent. I know it's risky to restrict orders like that, but don't do anything without my verbal approval," she said before leaving the room.

"Translation: don't do anything that I say to do," Stanton said, and the lieutenant nodded at the clarification. Then he turned back to his work, but not before Stanton saw a small smile of relief on his face.

Stanton managed not to roll her eyes in annoyance as she took Kina's vacated chair. Staying up the night before was not something that was recommended right before a mission was carried out since she could feel the exhaustion creeping into her bones. Avoiding the curious glances of the other personnel, she instead stared at the 'I Believe' X-Files poster that someone had taped on the wall across the room from where she was sitting. The two lead characters were in the foreground against a twilight sky with the silhouette of a flying saucer above them.

_Oh__yes,__I__believe__all__right_.

"Colonel, we just lost complete contact with the tower," an officer suddenly reported, breaking into Stanton's silent reverie. "Nothing we do can bring it back online. We also can't get through to them via phone either."

"What does the diagnostic say? Is it still their end?" Stanton asked as Kina came back with a steaming coffee mug.

"I don't know… there's too much damn interference!" the officer said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

Kina barely registered the shock was slowly appearing on Stanton's face. "Okay, I read the reports before taking this assignment, so I _know_ that Cybertronians interfere with our communication signals. But frankly this much interference is starting to get ridiculous…" she said, but a loud _crack_ of the door slamming open cut her off.

Everyone turned to see a panicking Lennox there. "It's Starscream; I don't know _what_ the hell you were hoping he would do for you Antonia, but he's going into New York City after…" Lennox said but stopped abruptly when Stanton interrupted him.

"Why on earth is he going to New York City?" she half-shouted at him, standing up straight now with her fists balled at her sides. "He has no reason to go there! Now, I thought he and I…"

"_That__'__s__where__you__'__re__at__fault!_ It _never_ works that way or runs that smoothly with Decepticons! You just never learn!" Lennox snapped, cutting Stanton off.

Stanton snorted, startling Lennox with her apparent flippant reaction. "It's kind of hard to learn anything when you and the rest of your Autobot allies withhold information from military commanders! Remember, _Major_ Lennox that my experience is limited to those brief encounters over the years, so I really didn't have much to go off of," she said, crossing her arms but keeping her fists clenched.

"Stop it right there, _both_ of you!" Kina snapped, and Lennox's retort promptly died in his throat. "Obviously, while the two of you are acting like small children, Starscream is doing cosmically stupid and he needs to be _stopped_." She turned around to the staring officers and technicians and said, "All right, who are the two-highest ranked officers here amongst you?"

"I'm a major, and he's a First Lieutenant, ma'am," a man said as he stepped forward, and gestured to another man standing near him as he spoke. The lieutenant promptly snapped to attention.

"Congratulations on your promotion to colonel. Now go out and tell Jay Perkins to get the four-oh-first in gear but not to leave until my say-so. I will join them in a few minutes, and you will stay here and help Sergeant Wilson direct the aerial battle from here… hopefully it won't come to that. Dismissed," she said, and the man saluted before darting from the room, careful to put some distance between him and Stanton. Meanwhile Kina turned back to the other personnel and said, "Now where is your base commander, Lieutenant?"

The man swallowed, and then said, "You just promoted and dismissed him, ma'am."

Kina managed to refrain from face palming; it wouldn't look professional in front of everyone else. "In that case, _you__'__re_ in charge of this bunch here for now," she said before turning to Lennox. "Major, you are in charge of this offensive strike, seeing that you do have the most experience amongst us. I'll await your orders once I join the squadron in flight. Go," she said. Major Lennox nodded and saluted before leaving.

Then Kina turned to the last person in the room she hadn't addressed. Before Stanton could get in a word edgewise, Kina said, "Colonel Stanton, you are officially decommissioned indefinitely until you and I have talked; you told me before all this that you had experience with Decepticons."

"I stand by what I said earlier," Stanton said stiffly as she crossed her arms and sat down in the chair again.

"Infuriating as ever, I see," Kina muttered before looking at the lieutenant. "Do not accept any orders from her," she said before she left the room without waiting for acknowledgement from either the lieutenant or Stanton.

As Kina half-ran to the women's locker rooms, she could already hear the N.E.S.T. soldiers scrambling out of their quarters as they prepared for the exact mission they had undoubtedly been trained for. She wished that her troops had been given similar preparation, but she would have to make do without this time around. If it had honestly been Starscream who started all this fuss before _taking__flight_, it meant that he had one hell of a cleaner or he'd coerced an extremely unlucky custodian into cleaning up the gunk in his engine. Thanks to her carelessness, Ari had gotten herself in the hospital, bringing the squadron roster down by five: one pilot in the hospital, one not permitted to fly, and three deserters.

Kina mentally kicked herself for letting Stanton talk her into letting _those_ three accompany the squadron here.

_Never again._

She entered the locker rooms to find that Marcia and Alexis were already there, chatting quietly as they prepared themselves for the upcoming flight. Kina supposed she should have seen that one coming, Alexis inviting herself along after Stanton had said no. When Kina shut the locker room door behind her, the two women turned, saluted, and then went back to their respective tasks.

"Alexis, can I talk to you for a moment?" Kina asked, deliberately dropping the rank in an attempt to reach her friend, not her subordinate. "It'll only take a minute, promise," she added when Alexis glanced warily at her.

"Um, okay. Marcia, I'll catch up with you in a moment," she said, and smiled slightly when Marcia smiled encouragingly at her. After Marcia left the room, Alexis sighed and said, "This is about Starscream, isn't it?"

"I just want to know if you're up for this mission," Kina said as Alexis reached for her flight helmet.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Alexis asked, pausing. "I know Stanton said I couldn't go, but sometimes a person has to defy orders. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission," she said in a rush as her fingers fumbled with the flight helmet straps.

Kina felt a pang of sadness at her friend's curiously blank expression. "That's not what I meant and you know it. Yes, it is about Starscream. I don't have to tell you why or where we're going, because you either strongly suspect or already know," she said. She hesitated, and then said, "You know very well what has to be done in order to prevent more deaths."

"I didn't think killing was an option for us," Alexis said, still avoiding Kina's eyes.

"We're not going to kill him, just disable him so that NEST can do what they are mandated to do," Kina said quietly. "I am going to take the shot because I want to make sure that the pilot who _does_ shoot him down does it without hesitation."

Alexis scowled as she glared at Kina. "Only one problem: you don't have those hollow-point sabot rounds that the rest of us do," she said, her hands shaking slightly. "Even if you were just going to disable him, or just drive him into the Autobots' range, you'd need an effective weapon or you'll just end up pissing him off!" she said, her voice rising slightly at the end of her sentence.

Kina bit back the words she wanted to say and instead took a more diplomatic yet unsubtle approach. "If he's pissed with me, then at least he'll follow me into the Autobots' range. Besides," she said, her irritation disappearing as she began to speak again in a softer tone, "My two wingmen will have the hollow-point sabot rounds. I need you to be more focused on keeping Tobias and I safe from the psycho-maniac than on Starscream. Can you handle that?"

Alexis's mouth twitched. But her expression blanked again before she asked, "So I can go with permission?"

Kina sighed and said, "We're somewhat understaffed here. Only eleven pilots can fly, twelve including me, and thirteen including you. Ari can't go anywhere yet. There's really nothing medical keeping you back from taking off with the rest of us."

There was a momentary silence between the two women. "Stanton over-reached herself again, didn't she?" Alexis finally asked, allowing a smile to break into her otherwise-expressionless face.

"And Starscream is taking advantage of it," Kina said, smiling back and feeling a wave of relief. "I suppose we _should_ be grateful that Megatron either hasn't noticed or just doesn't care."

"He'll care once Starscream beats the crap out of Ironhide _and_ Optimus… so in other words, never," Alexis said, her grin broadening slightly. Her face fell then, and then she said, "I… I just don't know what to think about what is going on." Her eyes met Kina's and she said, "I just want to talk to Starscream myself. I think I can reach him."

"I don't know Alexis. Obviously, I don't know what he was like before now, but he's not that same pers… um, _being_, that you remember him to be. Memories tend to exaggerate people and their characteristics for better or for worse," Kina said as she finished putting on her flight jacket. She checked her watch, and then said, "We should both go now."

Alexis just nodded, grabbed her flight helmet, and then left the room altogether. Kina hesitated for a moment, mentally reviewing the conversation she had just had before grabbing her own flight helmet and following her friend out.

Excluding Kina, there were only two pilots who weren't ready for departure. Kina suspected the others were running through their pre-flight checks, mostly to combat the nerves. Three were already taxiing their jets to the runway, already prepared to go and itching to get into the sky.

"General!"

She turned to see Major Lennox approaching with two women in tow, the latter of which were already in their own flight gear. "Colonel Stanton mentioned you were understaffed, so I thought you could include Everett and Rivers here," he said, gesturing to his companions. "Rivers has trained for both small fighters and large bombers, but she's got the hands-on experience with the latter," Lennox explained, nodding to the woman who had her long dark hair pulled back, leaving two blond strands to frame her face.

"Thank you, Major. You two, grab an available F-22 Raptor, and get ready for takeoff. You'll both be flight partners for this run," Kina instructed, the two pilots saluting and leaving for waiting jets. Kina meanwhile turned back to Lennox and asked, "Do you want us to try and slow the Decepticons down or drive them towards you guys so the Autobots can finish them off?"

"Let's go with the second option. Also, try to direct them away from New York City. A neighboring air base has already sent a F-15 Eagle squadron to deter the Decepticons away from actually _going_ into the city, but I don't think it's going to work," Lennox said, grimacing. "Finally, could you send off two wingmen to break out of formation and pursue Barricade? He's another Decepticon disguised as a police cruiser," he explained, noting the confusion that had appeared on Kina's face.

"I see. I have one more question for you, Major Lennox," Kina said, stopping Lennox as he turned to leave. "Why now? Why New York City? Why not sooner or later?" She narrowed her eyes and said, "I think you know exactly why Starscream is doing this. You will tell me right now, or I'll call the squadron off and you'll have no air support."

She was bluffing, but she maintained a steady poker face. Lennox studied her as though trying to gauge how serious she was. When she raised a hand to signal Alexis to call the squadron back, he let out an impatient sigh and said, "It's Witwicky, Sam Witwicky. He's exposed, vulnerable, and up for grabs. First Decepticon to kill him is apparently better than Megatron, or at least that was what Ironhide or Ratchet theorized."

"Since when was Sam _anywhere_ near her?" she asked as she spread her hands out to emphasize her point. At the brief flash of guilt that came across Lennox's face, she said, "I can't… you know what, we'll finish this discussion _when_ I come back. Don't think you're off the hook! Now go to your post!"

With that she turned and marched back to her jet, muttering to herself as she climbed the ladder to her cockpit. After strapping herself in, she flipped on the link that opened up the team frequency. "All right, can everyone hear me?" she asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose before placing the flight goggles on and synchronizing her helmet's communications with the jet's.

There was a chorus of 'yes ma'ams' and one 'I'm capable' came back through to her via the helmet's link. Kina was grateful that her pilots couldn't see the subsequent eye roll at smart remark. "Well then _Riley,_ use your apparent capability and listen rather than snark please," she said, and her words were followed by a few mutterings and snorts. "I need everyone focused here because we are charging down the one flier that single-handedly wiped out more than half of the original four-oh-first at Mission City," she said calmly, and was satisfied to hear the resulting silence over the link; she had their attention. "Our mission is _not_ to kill him, but just slow he and his two henchmen down; they will be the two fliers with him. We're going to leave the killing part for our allies, which I'm sure you might have at least _seen_ already. Our allies, unlike us, have the necessary firepower for that task, so that means _no__heroics_ from _anybody_ here," she said, mentally glaring in Riley's approximate direction. "There is the possibility that not all of us will return," she said in a softer voice. "But we are going to defend our homeland from those invaders with everything we've got," she finished, smiling slightly at the slight cheer that echoed across the frequency. "Any questions?"

Once again, she received a chorus of 'no ma'ams' as she finished her own preflight checks. "All right, Captain Preston, once you have the green light, this squadron is cleared for departure," Kina said before switching to a private frequency reserved for the squadron commanders. Jay Perkins, Kina remembered, had just recently had his jet's radio tuned for this frequency. "Captain Preston, I want you to establish an encrypted link between you and Perkins. That way, we have three 'leaders' to speak of and even if one or two of us were unable to take charge, there would still be a third person able to lead. Clear?"

"Yes ma'am," Alexis said, but Kina heard Perkins swallow nervously.

"Ma'am… why do I must be the one leading as well?" he asked.

Kina resisted the urge to smack her head against the control panel. "Perkins, now is _not_ the time to worry about _that_ particular detail. You would only be in charge if both Captain Preston and I were knocked out of the sky and therefore unable to lead the squadron. Chances are that that particular scenario is not going to happen," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring albeit stressed tone.

"Yes ma'am," Perkins said gloomily.

Kina then switched the frequency to a private link with Rivers; chances were that Rivers already knew what she was going to do since Lennox probably already told her, but it didn't hurt to repeat it for Kina's peace of mind. Kina would have to keep this conversation short; it was almost her turn to take off. "Rivers?" she asked quietly.

"Yes ma'am?" Rivers asked, sounding calm and collected. Yep, chances were _very_ good that she already knew her real mission.

"When we get closer to the city, I want you and your flight partner to break off from the squadron and locate the Decepticon Barricade," Kina said, hoping that either Rivers or Everett already knew what Barricade's physical appearance looked like. All Kina had for details was that he looked like a police cruiser, and there were probably a _ton_ of those in New York City. "Any last questions?"

"No ma'am, Erin and I will handle Barricade with no problem," Rivers replied.

"Are you comfortable in the F-22?"

"Yes ma'am," Rivers said patiently before Kina signed off the communications link in order to divert all extra power to the engines in preparation for takeoff.

A few minutes later and she was airborne. For a moment, she closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the peace and serenity of being in the air, flying once more. In reality, it had been only a few days since her last flight, but to her, it felt like a lifetime. Then, reluctantly, she ordered herself to focus on the mission, and enjoy the scenery _after_they won this fight.

Now it was time to distract three, cranky, power-grabby Decepticons.

_Definitely_ easier said than done.

"All right, stay in formation until we make contact with the enemy," she ordered after switching on the team frequency. The squadron was beginning to close in on New York City, and she could easily see the bay from the air even though the squadron was coming in at an angle. The city was really only two hours away from Suffolk Air Base by car, so time wasn't too much of an issue… yet. Kina knew that with the ridiculous speeds the squadron was pushing, there was a very good chance that they could hopefully find Starscream before he found them.

Assuming the Autobots were already distracting him.

_/Skye, are you almost there?/_

"Yes, Lennox. Just trying to pinpoint the man of the hour without radar since I read in the briefings that Cybertronian tech has a tendency to screw up radars and other scanners," Kina said as patiently as she could manage at the moment as she finally spotted what she thought was the renegade Seeker. He was a metallic gray, almost easily blending in with the buildings and ground as his backdrop. He seemed distracted, trying to chase something on the ground while trying to shake off aerial pursuers.

"All right folks, this is it. Activate transponders and open fire. Remember, distraction only! Do not take stupid risks! Toby, stay at my side and follow me," Kina said as she activated her own transponder. "Go!" she added and watched as the other fighters took off at full speed for the two visible Seekers; she could see the blue one off to the right a little.

_/Try not to hit our guys, huh?/_

"Major Lennox, these are the best pilots in the United States Air Force. They _know_ not to hit our guys," Kina said through slightly gritted teeth as she began maneuvering into the aerial battlefield, searching for the elusive Starscream. "Now, no talking unless it's absolute emergency," she said, "or you're going to get me killed. This requires a bit more focus than you thin…"

_/WATCH OUT!/_

Kina's head snapped forward and she swore at the sight of the business end of a large Vulcan cannon.

A large cannon that was glowing orange in preparation to fire.

**A/N: ****Story ****isn****'****t ****over ****yet! ****Also, ****I****'****m ****sorry ****if ****Lennox ****came ****across ****as ****a ****bit ****of ****a ****jerk ****in ****this ****one... ****for ****some ****odd ****reason ****I ****got ****a ****bit ****of ****that ****impression f****rom **_**Transformers: **__**Dark **__**of **__**the **__**Moon**_**. ****I ****have ****no ****idea ****how ****or ****why, ****so ****please ****don****'****t ****ask. ****Finally, ****Erin ****Everett ****belongs ****to ****Strawberrytop007 ****and ****requires ****her ****permission ****to ****use ****elsewhere. ****Jade ****Rivers ****belongs ****to ****JadeDolphin22 ****and ****requires ****her ****permission ****to ****use ****elsewhere.**


	32. Fire

Thirty-One

Fire

The F-22 Raptor that Starscream was about to blast into oblivion suddenly dived.

_Oh __slag_, Starscream thought grimly as two more enemies took the place of the jet that had dived. He dodged the sabot rounds before diving toward the city itself, searching frantically for Barricade's signal again. He'd had it coming into the city but the Autobots' arrival caused major signal interference, and as a result Starscream was now searching for the erstwhile Decepticon once more. Then, to top it all off, not only had the F-22s finally arrived, but also a fresh group of F-15s had arrived also to drive him out of the city.

He _wasn__'__t _interested in their precious city! He was interested in Witwicky human.

/_Screamer__… __humans __are __coming __out __of __the __woodworks __even __on __the __ground, /_ Thundercracker said through their link. /_Barricade __thinks __that __the __Autobot __scout __will __try __to __leave __the __city __to __minimize __overall __damage __to __the __city. __He__'__s __going __to __try a__nd __head __off __the __scout __now. /_

/_Makes __sense. __Where__'__s __Skywarp?__/_

Starscream regretted asking the question almost immediately after he spoke. Thundercracker was momentarily silent. /_He __just __reappeared __near __the __building __that __the __humans __call __the __Empire __State__… __NO __SKYWARP! __Get __the __jets __targeting __us, __NOT __those __slagging __flying __Earth __creatures!__/_ Thundercracker bellowed, his voice raising in volume less than three Earth minutes into his statement.

/_You __take __the __smaller __gray __fliers, __I__'__ll t__ake __the __F-22s__…__/_ Starscream began, but Thundercracker cut him off, a rare occurrence in the Seeker trine.

/_If __you__'__re __going __to __divvy __up __fighters _now, _either __split __them __up __fairly __or __let __us __have __a __free-for-all. __I __would __strongly __advise __the __latter __since t__his __battle _will _get __worse __once __Skyfire __returns/_ Thundercracker warned as he took off for the nearby bay in order to get rid of the four jets, three F-15s and one F-22, that had attached themselves to his trail.

/_Fine, __just __get __rid __of __them. __That __goes __for __you __too, __Skywarp!__/_ Starscream barked, receiving a squawk of irritation as Skywarp swooped straight into the cloud of F-22 jets. /_Thundercracker, __when __you __are __done __help __me __find __Barricade. __I __am __NOT __losing __the __Witwicky __boy __because __of __a __few __pesky __jets!__/_

/_Starscream, __locate __the __human __aerial __leader. __It __should __be t__he __one __giving __all __the __orders __to __the __rest.__/_ Thundercracker said irritably. /_Shoot __him __down, __and __the __pesky __jet __problem __should __take __care __of __itself __from __there./_

/_Her. __The __human __aerial __leader __is __female. __I __believe __that __her __aircraft__'__s __energy __signature __is __slightly __different __because __she __hasn__'__t __had th__e __chance __to __upgrade __the __jet__'__s __armor __to __withstand __the __likes __of __us./_ Starscream said as he pulled a three hundred and sixty degree barrel roll in order to avoid the sabot rounds from the two nearest F-22 jets. As a result, he nearly flew straight into a cannon round from Ironhide, but thankfully his proximity sensors warned him of the attack before he got too close to suffer serious damage.

/_Starscream__… __the __smaller __gray __jets __are __backing __off. __Perhaps __a __retreat?__/_ Thundercracker reported.

/_No__… __the __humans __are __trying __to __let __the __more __experienced __fliers __get __in __so __that __they __can __attack __us __better. __An __old __and __predictable __tactic, __they __are __going __to __try __and __maneuver __us __to __death__… __both __literally __and __figuratively. __This __is __going __to __be __annoying./ _Starscream sent back. He could already guess at what the humans were thinking; force the renegade Decepticons into the range of Autobots such as Ironhide and Optimus Prime. Then, true to expectation, the F-22s began to focus their attacks, concentrating their fire on specifically Skywarp and Starscream. Skywarp took to the challenge with a strange sort of enthusiasm; he initiated a chase with three before taking off after Thundercracker so that he could have an easier time of ditching his opponents in more open air space.

This unfortunately left Starscream with twelve, pissed, trigger-happy F-22 pilots.

Irked that he couldn't locate the human Skye's jet, Starscream just began scanning the swirling F-22s as he moved and twisted to stay just out of their firing range. He noticed momentarily that, including those that had already left with Skywarp and Thundercracker, the full sixteen pilots of the squadron were present. He surmised that either Skye or Stanton found a pilot to replace Alexis since she had been pulled off the mission to begin with. Or even better, Stanton herself was flying also, in an attempt to keep the squadron from being understaffed.

His revenge against that particular human was going to be _sweet_.

Of course, this put not one, but _two_ commanders in the air. If one fell, the other could easily keep the squadron going. Starscream decided that he was not going to run that particular risk. First Skye, and then Stanton would fall this morning.

Starscream wasn't counting Perkins as a commander. The human was too frightened of his own shadow to qualify.

Thundercracker abruptly reappeared, charging into the fray with his weaponry blazing. Two F-22s fell; one careened for the Hudson while the second limped away with its engine smoking profusely. Thundercracker attempted to remedy the problem by firing at the smoking engine, but the pilot saw the missile coming in time and yanked the F-22 sharply to the side, leaving a smoke trail in his wake. Thundercracker would have tried again if another F-22 hadn't swooped in at that moment to distract him.

Six down, ten to go.

/_Barricade __to __Starscream./_

_/This __had __better __be __good __news. __Good __as __in, __the __Autobot __scout __is __dead __and __Witwicky __is in__jured __but __alive/_ Starscream growled as he used Barricade's transmission to locate Barricade's signal within the city.

/_The __boy __escaped __on __foot __and t__he __scout __went __in __another __direction. __Someone __is __already __after __the __boy. __I __actually __called __because __two __of __your __F-22 __friends __are __on __my __tail/_ Barricade said. His voice sounded faint, as though he were trying to communicate without being detected or getting caught.

_Primus, __do __I __have __to __do _everything _by __myself __around __here?_ Starscream thought sourly. /_Well, __for __obvious __reasons, __I __can__'__t __just __go __down __and __help __you __right __now/_ he snapped as he shot a blast straight into another jet's pipes before moving into a head-on collision with a fourth. _Where __is __that __blasted __General __Skye?_ The thought had barely crossed his processor when he felt bullets pepper along the side of his body and across his wings. Twisting around, he fired the general direction of his assailant but the other jet had already dived by that point. Thundercracker swore viciously when Starscream's blast clipped his wing. Starscream still managed to scan his assailant from earlier, just to see if the energy signature was the unusual one.

It was.

Growling, Starscream twisted again and swooped down after it. He didn't know who he was more irritated at the moment: Barricade for distracting him, himself for allowing the distraction, or Skye for taking advantage of his distracted state. Then he decided that he couldn't very well alienate one of his very few allies, and he, Starscream, was usually never at fault for anything. Consequently, Skye was left, making her the guilty party

For a human, she was a pretty good flier. Two of her subordinates kept to her flanks. Although the inter-squadron communications frequency had received a new encryption code that morning and Starscream couldn't hack into it, Starscream suspected that Skye was now using his interest in her destruction in order to lure him out into the open.

/_Barricade, __when __you __get __the __Witwicky __boy, __I __want __you __to __leave __the __city __and __take __him __somewhere __remote. __Hold __on to __him __for __me/_ Starscream ordered as he focused on Skye; her left guard was falling behind in an attempt to slip behind him and open fire. The trick probably would have worked if Starscream hadn't used it countless times himself.

Without breaking off from his flight path, Starscream slowed down to keep the slipping fighter a head of him. A few blasts from the cannon solved _that_ problem and he sped up to catch Skye again. Only, she had changed direction again but was still headed for the outskirts of the city. Fuming that he had to recalculate his course again, Starscream resumed swift pursuit again.

/_Starscream, __I__'__ve __just __managed __to __hack __into __the __inter-squadron __frequency. __It __appears __that __there __is __a ma__le __giving __out t__he __orders/_ Thundercracker reported.

Right, Starscream had forgotten that the pilot known as Jay Perkins was Alexis's replacement for this mission. /_That __would __be __the __squadron__'__s __traditional __leader, __but __the __female __has __taken __command __for __this __mission. __So __ignore __him f__or __now, __we__'__ll __tackle __him __last/_ Starscream sent back.

/_It __also __appears __that __some __of __these __fighters __are __driven __by __vengeance, __something __about __a M__ission __City?__/_ Thundercracker asked, but his tone suggested that he knew quite well what had happened at Mission City having heard the story from another Decepticon and this was just his way of subtly reminding Starscream of that little fact.

_Oh, __I __remember __now._ There _were_ Mission City veterans in this group. Their memories and experiences of that day were what were keeping them alive this long into the battle. /_Try __switching __between __traditional __and __unorthodox __maneuvers, __that __should __confuse __them __long __enough __for __you __to __strike/_Starscream instructed as he continued pursuing the F-22 ahead of him. /_Their __desires __for __vengeance __should __distract __them __enough __for __them __to __lose __their __ability __to __keep __a __careful __eye __on __you./_

/_Attacker __on __your __six. __Reads __as __the __same __one __you __were __chasing __earlier. __Can__'__t __shoot it __down __because it__'__s __using __you __as __a __shield/_ Thundercracker said casually.

_What?_ A quick scan of his surroundings showed his target to be exactly where Thundercracker had specified. Skye had looped around him, leaving him chasing another jet. He twisted to avoid the spray of bullets before pulling back so that if Skye had remained where she was, she would have been right in his crosshairs.

Unfortunately, she moved like Starscream expected her to do, angling upward so that their paths momentarily crossed. He used that opportunity to open fire, as did she. He used his cannon, which actually made contact with Skye's wing and left a long blackened streak along the wing and the body of the jet. Her missile however struck Starscream's underside, and Starscream swore to himself as he felt the burning sensation along the armor plating.

He wasn't angry with Skye anymore.

He was _ticked_ now.

The other jet that had been Skye's right flank swooped in at that moment, guns blazing. Starscream learned from bullets hitting his wings that _this_ jet was equipped with the dreaded sabot rounds. A blast from Starscream's cannon completely destroyed the jet's left wing, leaving the fighter to spiral downward toward the city. Instead of either pursuing or destroying it however, Starscream decided to leave it alone for once. Maybe Skywarp or Thundercracker would put it out of its misery. At the moment however, Skye was completely unguarded and Starscream fully intended to see this battle to the finish.

_Her_ finish obviously, not his. He was too good at combat to be defeated by a mere mortal human.

Skye was toying with him now. She was careful to stay close enough to her comrades to maintain safety in numbers, but at the same time she was far away enough from them as to not endanger them if Starscream decided to attack again. Sometimes she would drift out of formation only to re-align when Starscream came too close for her comfort. So Starscream kept back, silently daring her to drift out again.

_Now._

Gunning his engines, he shot forward and opened fire at the same time, forcing Skye to dive and remove herself from the cloud of her protective fighters, which were currently occupied with harassing Thundercracker. One fighter had started to pursue Skye as well but deviated back to the original course toward Thundercracker a few moments later. Starscream strongly suspected that had been whoever was underneath Aliskevicz and Preston in the hierarchy; after all, the humans did have strong reasons to protect their leader.

In order to be sure that Skye couldn't call for help, he sent an EMP blast… just in case.

Skye was now zigzagging, keeping the jet dangerously close to the skyscraper tops. Starscream kept recording the amount of degrees that Skye flew to the left and right, and then lined up his cannons, carefully timing the shot before he took it.

He fired.

The blast caught her jet square on the engine. There was a one to two second hesitation before the jet exploded, a brilliant orange fireball that rained debris and charred metal. For a split second, Starscream was triumphant. He was confident that he had defeated the squadron leader and as a result, the squadron would dissolve as the pilots tried to fight the Seekers and establish a new leader at the same time. It was going to be sheer chaos.

Then something beeped on his scanner.

Suspicious, he scanned the falling wreck, only to catch a single living bio-signature that was descending, shielded by a white parachute. Then the parachute disappeared into one of the large glass windows of the nearest skyscraper.

_Skye had survived._

Starscream managed to rein in his fury before he did something stupid. Then he twirled around in preparation for the final strike.

_Whoosh!_

The incoming missile from behind narrowly missed him, and he could feel the heat as it sailed past. Snarling in anger at the sudden interruption, he transformed as he twisted his body around to see the idiot who was daring enough to pull _that_ attack off.

He recognized this particular F-22; it had been the one that had attempted to follow Skye earlier but returned back to the original path. There was too much external interference to properly identify the pilot, but Starscream suspected that it was Stanton; only the foolish colonel would try to outright _challenge_ him like that. Only because she had never faced down a flying, angry Decepticon before, and if she'd had, she'd know quite well that Starscream _never_ lost.

Starscream grinned nastily before accelerating for her, transforming back into his jet form as he did so.

Showtime.

* * *

One of Erin Everett's screens flared as a F-22 near her position was blown to bits. Before she could ask General Skye what had just happened, the radio fell silent for a few minutes before someone – she guessed Jay from the panicky tone – yelled, /_Who__'__s __not __here? __Captain? __General? __All __right, __everyone __sound __off __again, __who __is __not __here?__/_

/_That __was __General __Skye__… __I __think/_ another hollow voice, Riley's, replied. /_Captain __Preston n__eeds __backup, __she __just __charged __that __son of __a__…__/_

_/Riley, __we__'__ve __still __got __Perkins, __remember? __And __our __common __sense __if __Perkins __fails/_ another pilot, Redding, said. /_Where__'__s __Tufts?__/_

_/Down. __Lost __her __left __wing __so __she __had __to __do __an __emergency __landing __in __Fifth __Avenue/_ Riley replied. _/Probably __didn__'__t __mind __too __much __unless __she __accidentally __wrecked __one __of __her __favorite __stores. __Did an__yone __else __lose __contact __with __Captain __Preston __when __she__ –__/_

Erin switched from the squadron frequency to the private frequency that she shared with her fellow pilot Jade Rivers and Major Lennox. "Major Lennox, any sign of Barricade?" she asked as she and Jade flew dangerously close to the deserted New York streets.

/_Hang __on E__verett__… __Skye __either __just __died __or __lost __her __communicator __in __the __fall. __I __can__'__t __get __a__hold __of __her __anymore.__ A__s __for Barricade__, __Ironhide __is __still __sniffing __him __out. __Keep __an __eye __out __for __either __of __the __Seekers; __they__'__re __getting __bold/_ Lennox warned before signing off.

/_There __are seven __of __ours __down, nine __still __up/_ Jade said after a moment.

"Thanks," Erin said as one of her monitors began beeping rapidly. Glancing at it, she felt a spike of alarm when she realized that someone had a targeting lock on her. "Jade! Watch your six!" she yelled into the link while pulling the joystick back, guiding the small aircraft up into the air right as Skywarp fired. Erin didn't need an open link to guess as to whether Skywarp was cursing at the moment; he'd given up chasing Jade and was now pursuing Erin instead.

/_I__'__m __okay __Erin, __just __lead __him __to t__he __Hudson __and __try __to __ditch __him __there/_ Jade managed to say before her voice dissolved into the ear-deafening static that heralded Skywarp's interference with the F-22's communication links.

_All __right, __the __Hudson __it __is__,_ Erin thought as she leveled the F-22 out before adopting a zigzag patterned flight to deter Skywarp from blasting her out of the sky. She was careful to keep the angle degrees and timing different each time in an attempt to keep Skywarp from predicting her next maneuver.

/_Oh __come __on __now, __I__'__m __not __as __bad __as __Screamer __is/_ an unfamiliar male voice protested through the radio link, startling Erin. Then she realized that it must have been Skywarp; the once purple F-22 Raptor was now a dull gray color that was still steaming a bit. Erin remembered that Skyfire had once mentioned that Skywarp was somewhere between Starscream and Thundercracker on the danger level because not only was the purple Decepticon crazy and annoying to even his fellow Decepticons, but he also possessed the power of teleportation. It was the teleportation that made Skywarp the unpredictable of the three Seekers. There was no rhyme or reason to his teleportation destinations.

Moral of the story; don't let him catch you.

Getting an idea, Erin activated her frequency, hoping that even though Skywarp was blocking _all_ of her frequencies to all others, she could still get through to Skywarp.

Here went nothing.

"Skywarp?" she asked tentatively into the microphone.

_/Yes?/_

_Okay, __where __to __go __from __here. _"I couldn't help but notice that while your two comrades have interesting color and pattern schemes on their armor, your armor is just a dull gray," she observed as she tilted the F-22 to avoid Skywarp's next blast. The maneuver actually proved unnecessary; her words had distracted Skywarp enough that the shot went wide and nearly clipped Thundercracker in the wing. Erin felt her heart leap momentarily up into her throat when the other Seeker fired in her general direction. She only relaxed when the shot missed her and nearly got Skywarp; the other Seeker easily ducked underneath it.

_/Actually, to answer your question, I used to have purple armor but it all burned off when I tried to ditch Skyfire in an underwater abyss. I miscalculated and ended up near an underwater volcano. I didn't even know underwater volcanoes possible/_ Skywarp replied cheerfully as he rolled slightly to avoid colliding with another F-22. _/Why do you ask/_

"Oh, because I was just wondering how your fan club would react if they knew you had lost the purple color permanently," Erin said casually.

_/Fan club?/_

"Yeah, a bunch of humans who think that you're pretty cool," Erin said as she slowed her jet down before going into a gradual turn to avoid a crazed Starscream who was targeting two F-22s at once and failing miserably to catch either of them.

_/Well, I didn't know that… good thing I know how to get my purple color back/,_ Skywarp replied conversationally. He was quiet for a moment before he asked, _/Do Starscream and Thundercracker have fan clubs too?/_

"Yeah, but their clubs are not as big as yours," Erin said as her jet finally soared over the blue waters of the bay. She hoped that Skywarp was too preoccupied with his newfound fame to notice the five F-15 Eagles that were sneaking up behind him; despite the general squadron retreat, these particular F-15s had stayed back for this part of the fight: the take down. Erin waited until the F-15s were right behind him before she said, "Do tell me how it goes when you get your color back."

_/Huh? What do you mean by…oh slag! /_ Skywarp yelped, finally detecting the F-15s behind him. Erin's flight goggles polarized in order to protect her eyes from the blindingly white flash behind her as Skywarp teleported away. Erin was pleased to discover that there was now a steady stream of static coming from her radio.

"Thanks for your help, guys," she said toward one of the F-15s

_/No problem. Take advantage of his disappearance while you can, this is the third time we've done this._ _He__'__ll __come __back __anywhere __from __ten __to __thirty __minutes/_ one of the pilots replied before turning his aircraft back around to resume hovering for the next Decepticon to either wander or be forced into their territory.

Erin meanwhile turned her jet back around and shot directly back toward the city. Before she could contact either Jade or Major Lennox and ask for a sit-rep, her communications link beeped, signaling an incoming transmission. "Everett here," she said.

_/Everett? Are you still airborne?/_ Major Lennox asked, his voice barely audible over the static.

"Yes, I am looking for Jade," she replied as she began scanning the sky for her fellow pilot. She could see that there were two main aerial hotspots of activity centered on both Thundercracker and Starscream, and she took care to avoid them both.

_/We're all near the Three Waters Park on the outskirts of the city, but be careful; Barricade picked up a new friend and they are both causing major trouble. Sending the coordinates now/, _Major Lennox said as another screen on Erin's control panel flashed the coordinates on the display.

"On it," Erin said as she rapidly typed in the commands for the intended flight path. Then she took the joystick and directed the F-22 in the direction of the coordinates, pushing the F-22 Raptor for all it was worth.

Thankfully, the trip did not take long; Erin saw Jade moving away swift retreat before she saw the green trees of Three Waters. When she got closer to the trees, Erin did notice that the park appeared mostly intact, but she knew better than to keep that assumption. "Jade, I'm back!"

_/Great! Unfortunately, Barricade has a new friend, and nobody can figure out where it came from/ J_ade said as she circled back around for another pass. _/Everyone is here except for Ironhide, whose ETA is three minutes/ _she added as she and Erin slipped into the standard attack formation that they had both practiced with Ironhide.

"Anything about General Skye?" Erin finally asked before the two women dove for Barricade's exposed back. Both were forced to abandon the maneuver however as soon as Barricade's new friend, a Decepticon that had the words 'NEW YORK COUNTY JAIL' stenciled in down one side. Then the newcomer backed off to give a ticked Barricade some room to open fire at his latest assailants, which unfortunately left him exposed to an attack from a newly arrived Ironhide, who enthusiastically took the opportunity to charge in.

_/I'm sorry, what was your question?/_ Jade asked as she and Erin climbed back into the sky in order to wait for the next perfect opportunity to strike. Fliers from Skye's squadron swooped in to wait as well, circling the battlefield below in an attempt to wait for the next moment to move in.

"I was just wondering if there had been any word from General Skye yet," Erin said.

_/Nothing yet. Major Lennox doesn't think she made it though, he said it was quite a drop/,_ Jade replied grimly.

Erin was about to ask another question they both heard a muted roar below. Turning the jets slightly to get a better look at the ground below, Erin was startled to see that Ironhide had not only reassessed the fight, but had _literally_ jumped back into the fray. Barricade's cohort was hobbling off to the side as the two gigantic combatants slammed into each other, spraying dirt and grass everywhere. The other waiting F-22s, other than Erin and Jade, seemed to interpret this act as an open invitation to join in and try to overwhelm Barricade's friend.

"Go for the exposed joints!" Erin shouted over the link as she and Jade dived in, the F-22 weapons blazing. Erin thought she heard Riley's whoop of enthusiasm, as the waiting F-22s seemed to fly in at the same time. The new Decepticon withstood the first two minutes of the assault before collapsing into the large pond behind it. The fall also smoked out the six humans that were taking cover behind several trees and shrubs. As the humans scattered, the nameless Decepticon managed to get one last shot before Riley gunned it down.

_/Is there any way to tell if those things are dead without actually getting close to it? /_ Riley asked over the team frequency, a hint of a growl audible in his voice. _/No fair! /_ He yelled when Barricade fired at the other Decepticon's missile to redirect it toward the fleeing humans. Erin cried out in anger when the two slowest in the group were caught in the blast, disappearing completely.

_/All right guys; let's finish this once and for all. /_ Riley growled.

To the end.

* * *

**A/N: Well, the reason for this delay in updates is because I was finishing the written portions, so the story is now completely finished. I just have to finish typing it. On the note of fan clubs, I actually don't know which Seeker has the biggest club. **

**Remember guys; there are three more chapters after this. So please don't hunt me down just yet. ;)**


	33. Trials

Thirty-Three

Trials

_This cannot seriously be happening._

Dozens of choice words that could adequately describe her current situation ran through Kina Skye's mind as practiced fingers unstrapped the seat restraints from the smoking F-22. Dozens of cockpit alarms were wailing as the F-22 continued its downward spiral into the city. Before pressing the eject button, she tried to guide the aircraft as best as she could away from the nearest cluster of buildings. Then, as the missile-proximity alarm began to climb rapidly in pitch, she finally ejected the pilot's chair.

If there was one thing she definitely didn't miss about Air Force training, it was the in-flight emergency ejections.

She gritted her teeth and braced herself for parachute deployment, but still felt her teeth slam together when it finally did. The rushing wind slowed slightly, enough for her to regain a bit of her hearing. Kina hoped that the flying egomaniac, also known as Starscream, was too busy to notice the big white target that the parachute presented. Her fears abruptly changed however when a blast of hot air and debris sent her flying straight into the window of the nearest building, and she balled herself up as much as possible in order to minimize damage.

Glass rained down on her as her harness automatically released itself; the parachute was caught on the window frame. She on the other hand went straight into the large oak desk that was sitting right there; she rolled through right where the desk owner's feet would go and finally stopped after going through. Then she lay still for a few moments, letting her brain acknowledge the high amount of pain her body was in.

After a few moments of remaining still, Kina gripped the tabletop for support so she could pull herself up. She remained still to gather her bearings, and then finally tapped the side of her helmet to activate her communicator. "Perkins? Alexis? Major Lennox? Anyone here? I…" she began to say, but faltered when she realized that she wasn't getting anything on her radio, not even static. She carefully pulled her helmet off while bracing herself against the desk, mindful of the sensitive spot on her forehead. Her blond hair fanned into her eyes, and she brushed it back gingerly, cringing when she felt a spot of sensitive skin. At least her helmet had absorbed most of the impact.

A rumble overhead reminded her that there was still a battle in progress. Carefully stepping around the desk in case her head injury was more serious than she'd initially assessed, Kina left her flight helmet on the desk as she made her way to the exit. A glance around the room revealed that she had evidently crashed into a CEO's office, someone who dealt in defensive technology if the framed newspapers were anything to go by.

She was puzzled when she found that the elevators were still functional, but then she remembered that the only damage the building had sustained so far was her crashing into it. The people within the building had evacuated long before the battle above got nasty.

The elevator soon arrived to the ground floor and Kina stepped out into the pristine yet empty lobby. She gingerly pressed a finger against a temple as though to ward off the threatening headache before she arrived to the building entrance. Then she stepped out into the morning sun.

New Yorkers were still hiding when Kina looked both ways down the street outside; she could only see bits of clothing peeking out from various hiding spots. Remembering quite well that one of the Decepticons continuously passed himself off as a police cruiser and sometimes an officer, Kina warily checked the streets one more time before she started walking to where Lennox last said he and the Autobots would be, somewhere on the city outskirts.

Kina remembered something else from the intelligence reports: Barricade apparently had a human woman working with him. Something Kina didn't understand was the rationale for working with Decepticons in general; apparently their very appearances were enough to scare humans off.

Maybe either Alexis or Stanton would know the answer to that one.

She'd have to ask when she got back.

"Help!"

Kina turned sharply and then instantly recognized the running figure steadily approaching. He may not know it, but Samuel Witwicky was one of the most profiled teenagers in the CIA's and FBI's respective databases. Normally, that was _not_ a good thing. In this situation however, those databases were the only reason that she recognized him now. "Sam!" she shouted, raising a hand in an attempt to catch his attention.

It worked. "Thank… thank God I found you!" he said as he came to a halt before her. He was breathing heavily as he bent over in an attempt to catch his breath. "Wait… you do work for Major Lennox, right?" he said, straightening and taking a step back.

Kina swallowed a flash of irritation. "I am General Kina Skye of the Air Force, so _no_, I don't work for Major Lennox. I do however work _with_him," she said as Sam began to back away from her. "Major Lennox gave me your description, so that was how I was able to identify you," she explained as Sam let his shoulders sag in relief. He was covered in sweat and grime, but otherwise appeared physically fine. "What's the problem?" Kina asked as Sam leaned against the wall in exhaustion. "And where is Bumblebee and your girlfriend?"

Sam winced. "Mikaela and I were in a coffee shop when Barricade found us," he explained quickly in a low tone. "We escaped with Bumblebee at first, but then the three of us decided to split to make it harder for him to follow us. But _somehow_ he managed to create a Transformer sidekick that chased Mikaela while his human partner chased _me_. Barricade went after Bee, I don't know if Mikaela escaped or not. I also don't know where the crazy woman went either," Sam said, looking around anxiously.

"Let the government worry about her, she's their responsibility anyway," Kina said as she scanned the streets once again for any sign of a potential attack.

"What do you mean, 'she's their respons –' _oh __my __God __duck!__"_

"Where?" Kina said, momentarily forgetting their situation as she turned around. Then she ducked just as a blue F-22 transformed above their heads and landed in the street nearby. Muttering a few words she'd picked up in her time in the military, Kina grabbed Sam's shoulder and gently eased him back as the blue Decepticon crunched his way through the rubble-strewn street. Since this one was neither purple nor trying to murder them at the moment, Kina deduced that this had to be the 'level-headed' member of the trio: Thundercracker.

Instead of attacking them both, Thundercracker predictably reached for Sam. Grabbing his shoulder, Kina yanked the teen backwards past her as she stepped forward as she scrambled to think of a way that she could somehow defend not only herself but protect Sam as well.

The Decepticon regarded her for a moment before he said, "Why defend the youngster? Why fight this battle if you are going to die anyway?"

"Because I swore an oath to protect this nation and her citizens, and the youngster counts," Kina said, mentally grimacing at her response as she ignored Sam's cry of indignation at being called a 'youngster'. Couldn't she have come up with something wittier?

Thundercracker silently regarded her for a few moments, and she hoped he couldn't see that in reality, she stood no chance against him even in full health. She was stranded in the middle of New York City with no jet or way of getting back into either the air or Suffolk County Air Base. "Very well then," Thundercracker said simply before reaching down toward her while reaching for Sam, as though he was going to pin her down to keep her from protecting Sam. She started to turn and run toward Sam.

It may have saved her life.

There was an earth-shattering crash behind her, sending her forward into the debris-covered sidewalk. Kina felt the tiny prickling sensations as bits of dirt and concrete shot across her the exposed parts of her face and neck. Twisting around and ignoring the bits of pain that managed to surpass the current rush of adrenaline, she saw Thundercracker limping with a half-torn left wing before scrambling away from a threatening Skyfire. The large Autobot feinted another strike, which successfully startled Thundercracker enough to get rid of the blue Decepticon. She swallowed before she used the wall to pull herself up as Skyfire turned and looked down at her and Sam.

_Dear God he's tall. I hope that this is as tall as they can get._

Kina's shock and thoughts must have been readable on her face, because Skyfire immediately backed away from the two of them. After checking to ensure that Thundercracker wasn't going to sneak up on them again, he turned back to the two of them. "Do either of you require immediate medical attention?" he asked.

"No…I'll be fine," Sam stammered as he pulled himself up.

Kina mentally checked herself over. Physically, she knew she was going to have numerous bruises later, and that was if she was lucky. She still felt a little rattled from the crash landing and the confrontation with Thundercracker, but right now she had to get back in the air… somehow. "I'll be fine too… is there a way you can help me get back to Suffolk? I need to go up there and join the rest of the squadron," she said as she slowly walked forward.

Skyfire seemed to think it over for a moment. "I believe there may be a way that you can get into the air without heading all the way back to Suffolk. Is there not a closer base, where the F-15s came from?"

_Of __course_. Kina had forgotten about the US Air Force Reserves. Granted, it may not have been the base that sent out the F-15s, but it was close enough. "Please take me to the Air Force Reserves, don't know what they may have in the way of aircraft but it may be enough," she said, and Skyfire nodded.

"Sam, you should get to safety," he said

"Bee's coming for me, I think I can manage until then," Sam replied.

Skyfire just nodded before transforming back into the bomber. Kina silently commended the giant Autobot for staying on Earth this long without getting noticed as she boarded, Sam walking away to go find Bumblebee as she did so.

Time was running out.

* * *

The rest of N.E.S.T. forces, as it would turn out, were at Three Waters Park, which was nowhere in walking distance from where Sam was.

In the meantime, it was Ironhide and Barricade butting heads while Sideswipe and Jolt were trying to overwhelm Barricade from behind; a couple of trigger-happy fighter pilots had brought down Barricade's 'sidekick' twenty or so minutes ago. It wasn't until five minutes ago that Major Lennox had ordered the pilots to retreat and concentrate their fire on the two Seekers that were still visible and airborne. Barricade seemed to have started gaining lost ground in his fight with Ironhide now that the annoying fighters had left, but it wasn't much in the long round.

_/__I __wonder __where __the __rest __of __the __Decepticons __are/_ Sideswipe sent to Ironhide as he dodged a wild attack from Barricade.

_/__Don__'__t __question __it, __just _accept _it/_ Sergeant Epps yelled over the link as he unloaded a clip into Barricade… or at least tried to.

_/__INCOMING/_ one of the pilots squawked over the team frequency.

Jolt and Sideswipe managed to scramble out of the way just as a giant, metallic-colored Decepticon Seeker crashed into whatever was left of the park's pond, spraying water and mud everywhere. More humans scattered from their latest hiding places, attracting Skywarp's attention. Luckily for them, Skywarp was more interested in watching them trip over themselves in their scramble to escape him than he was in killing them on the spot.

Ironhide fired at the back of Skywarp's head before dodging Barricade's swing. Ironhide landed in a small grove, sending dirt, grass, and splintered trees into the air. Screams reached his receptors as more humans ran for cover as he pulled himself up and neatly stepped aside at Barricade's stab. "Where's your little human friend?" Ironhide asked; he could see Jolt ferrying a few humans away from their latest hiding spots behind Barricade. If he could just keep the Decepticon's attention him for a little longer…

"Dead. Outlived her usefulness an hour or so ago," Barricade said curtly as he and Ironhide slowly circled each other, placing Ironhide in front of the street and park entrance. Then Barricade raised his weapon and fired two blasts.

Unfortunately for Barricade, Ironhide was already moving.

Firing at Barricade, Ironhide ducked the first missile blast, which clipped a nearby satellite dish but otherwise missed the building completely. Being the heroic idiot that he was however, Ironhide dived in order to block the second missile; it hadn't been aimed nowhere near the weapons specialist but rather at a group of four humans who had been trying to use the wrecked cars for cover. _Somehow_, not only did Ironhide take the full brunt of the attack against one of his thicker armor plates, but he also managed _not_ to crush any of the four humans in the process.

"_GO!__"_ he bellowed at them, eliciting a scream from the only female, a tall, slender redhead who had impractical footwear for this situation. Ironhide was prepared to yell at them again when one of the men shouted something unintelligible, pointing behind Ironhide. The Autobot turned and fired his cannon to deflect Barricade's missile; the hunter had finally caught Jolt and Sideswipe trying to sneak up behind him and somehow got Skywarp to focus on the two Autobots. Since the Autobots were now distracted, it left Barricade free to target Ironhide when the latter wasn't expecting it.

Thankfully the cannon blast convinced the woman and one of the men to escape. Ironhide only realized this when the oldest human of the quartet was more or less chasing around the younger, brown-haired man. The older man had graying hair and a bushy mustache, and was yelling, "Parker! Are you getting _all_ of this action here?"

"I'm trying, Mr. Jameson sir," the other man shouted back, his camera in his hands and clicking away. "It's a little tricky, they're both moving too fast," the man added just as Ironhide slammed a large metallic hand down into the ground to prevent a small yet lethal round from reaching the photographer. That was the last straw for the humans; the pair finally left after that.

Even after two years on Earth, the human race still mystified Ironhide. The two males had put their lives at severe risk for a couple of photographs that would one day become absolutely worthless.

Finally Barricade made a severe miscalculation. Abandoning the safety of long-range attacks, Barricade charged the weapons specialist, firing as he went. Ironhide easily dodged the first two blasts, deflected the third with a missile of his own, and then slammed a fist in Barricade's side once the Decepticon was close enough.

While Barricade and Ironhide were similar if not the same in height, Ironhide knew he had the greater mass since he did carry quite a bit of heavy weaponry on him. So when the two massive Cybertronians collided with an earth-shaking _crash_, Barricade staggered back slightly before attempting to use one of his small saws to run Ironhide through underneath the armor plating. Ironhide lowered his beloved cannon to defend himself, reflexively sweeping his firing arm to slam Barricade's weapon away. Sparks flew everywhere while Ironhide managed to punch hard enough to send the Decepticon hunter halfway to the ground.

Something in the sky overhead exploded, sending hot metal debris raining down on the two combatants as Barricade fired from his crouched position. Ironhide growled when the first round hit him but he quickly dived and rolled out of the way, sending one more blast in Barricade's direction.

Apparently Ironhide did exactly what Barricade wanted him to do. Instead of attacking Ironhide again, the hunter chose instead to leap for the damaged road, turning back into the police cruiser on his way out. There was a screech of tires as Barricade nearly clipped an arriving Bumblebee on his way out, the latter of which swerved to get out of the Decepticon's way.

In that first second, Ironhide remembered that Skywarp was still grounded nearby. In the next second, Ironhide turned while his cannon glowed with orange as it charged up in preparation for the next attack. In the final second, Ironhide fired at Skywarp right as the Decepticon Seeker began to glow white in an attempt to teleport away before he too was targeted and left unable to escape N.E.S.T.

There was the customary blindingly white flash as Skywarp teleported away, Ironhide received a little consolation however from the fact that his cannon blast had made it into the teleportation as well. He idly wondered if that would be the first time if Skywarp was ever attacked _while_ teleporting. Whatever the case, the odds were in Ironhide's favor that the strike was going to _hurt_.

"Well, on the plus side, they're both gone for now," Lennox said, walking up to stand next to Ironhide. The weapons specialist looked down at his human friend as Lennox continued to say, "On the down side, I can't shut down our news reporter and photographer friends or whip up a believable cover story to explain all of this." He surveyed the damaged park and street and added, "While we did keep the damage somewhat contained and outside the city proper, there are still going to be major consequences aside from the expected. I don't even know what the death toll is going to be overall…"

"You can cross General Skye off that list, I talked to her after her crash," Sam said, startling Lennox. Ironhide turned to see Sam leaning walking over as Bumblebee transformed behind him. The boy was covered in dirt and sweat, and was still shaking slightly.

"Where is Skye then?" Lennox demanded, looking relieved at the same time.

"She managed to convince Skyfire to take her to some base or another to get into another aircraft. I don't know where either of them are right now," Sam explained. "Bee was having trouble getting in touch with Optimus, so we don't know where he or Ratchet are right now."

Ironhide reflexively checked his own communications link; it was still active. Ratchet was with a few human volunteers and Rose Connelly, searching for survivors in the wreckage in another part of the city. Jolt and Sideswipe, who had disappeared as soon as Skywarp did, were now trying to pursue a fleeing Barricade. If the numerous human and Cybertronian curses were anything to go by, the pair was probably failing miserably to box in and catch the Decepticon. Optimus was locked in combat with a grounded Thundercracker, and only Primus knew where Skids and Mudflap went. Skyfire meanwhile had returned, and was steadily closing in on a distracted Starscream, who was currently somewhere above the city.

"Ironhide?"

Ironhide looked down at Lennox, who looked slightly concerned. "Okay there, big guy?" he asked.

"Of course… Skywarp is the only one still unaccounted for. However, I will go now to aid Optimus against Thundercracker, Skyfire is closing in on Starscream's position," he said, and without waiting for a response from Lennox, he transformed and took off in search of the Autobot leader.

* * *

_Someone __is __feeling __a __little __impertinent __today_.

Starscream kept in Stanton's firing range; after trying to pummel him for five minutes, she'd abruptly broken off the attack when three more fighters swooped in and took over for her. He'd easily shaken them off, zeroed in on Stanton's fighter, and was now tailing her even as she tried to use the other fighters as a smokescreen. Her communications were down; he'd made sure of that when they both started clashing above the New York skyscrapers. No communications meant she had no chance of coordinating with her allies, making it harder to summon reinforcements. All Starscream had to do now was run her to the ground.

The flicker of movement outside his peripheral vision caught his attention, and he easily rolled away from the two missiles, courtesy of Stanton's unofficial wingman. Stanton herself meanwhile slowed down her jet fast enough for Starscream to overshoot her. Starscream arced down in order to turn back around and come back up from below Stanton. When Stanton was in the right position ahead and above him, Starscream opened fired, spraying bullets down one side of the other jet. Stanton barrel-rolled away from him right as the bullets made contact with the armored side. Then she too tried to lose altitude in an attempt to copy him and attack from below, but Starscream was faster. He changed his position as he tried to fire at her at the same time. Not only did he miss, but she also managed to get a sabot round on him before escaping out of his range… for however a brief a time.

Starscream wasn't letting her get away _that_ easily.

For someone who hadn't flown in years, Stanton was holding up quite well in this particular fight. Too well actually: Starscream figured that it shouldn't have come as a surprise since the colonel did have a nasty tendency to keep surprises to herself. Starscream suspected that the colonel had been practicing flying wherever she was stationed in the two years since Starscream saw her last. It made sense since she'd been far enough from the United States to get away with practice without getting caught.

Heat seared across his back, and he flipped one hundred and eighty degrees to avoid the next round. He fired back as he did so only to realize that the current antagonist was Stanton's wingman: the bio-signature gave the pilot's identity as Jay Perkins. The coward had somehow grown a spine in the last hour or so, enough to challenge Starscream. Snarling to himself, Starscream fired at Perkins, catching the F-22's wing as he did. Perkins peeled away from the assault and finally limped off elsewhere. Starscream didn't have to search far for Stanton; she came from behind, firing dangerously close to the tailpipes. She easily kept pace with Starscream, pressing her attacks as she did so even though some of the shots were going wide or skimming his wings and side. She was either getting desperate, sloppy, or was trying to catch his attention and keep it on her.

Starscream sincerely hoped it was the third option. Then he could _definitely _give her more than she could handle and have a legitimate reason for doing so.

Stanton dived again, this time aiming for an invisible destination within the city. Starscream didn't complain; a chase was a chase, and he _always_ won those. He followed her, tilting vertically in order to fly through the streets of Manhattan. For the most part, Stanton held steady even though this was clearly a new maneuver for her.

The buildings whizzed by in gray and white blurs before Stanton finally realized that Starscream wasn't going to give up as she used the next intersection to angle back up into the sky. Starscream tried to fire as she tilted upward, but missed by a few inches. As they both leveled out, she kept zigzagging with no specific timing or pattern as she spiraled back up into sky. But Starscream, as usual, was accustomed to this particular tactic. He fired, and for _once_ hit the jet square in the back about a foot from the darkened hatch of the cockpit as Stanton tried to shoot upward in a ninety-degree angle. As the jet leveled out one more time, he noticed with satisfaction that it was moving jerkily now. She was shaken, possibly losing a bit of the nerve that had made her so bold earlier in the confrontation. Starscream wasn't what the humans called 'empathetic', but he could still sense Stanton's desperation steadily increasing.

The two passed over a cluster of buildings where Starscream could see Thundercracker perched on top of a damaged skyscraper in an attempt to avoid and escape Optimus Prime and Ironhide; one of the Autobots had managed to severely damage Thunder cracker's left wing, but Starscream didn't know which. Judging from the increased jerkiness of his prey, Stanton had seen it too and was scrambling for a backup plan; evidently the plan had been to lead Starscream straight into the Autobots' waiting servos.

He decided to humor her, and fell back far enough to let her think that she was safe for now, to let her come up with her backup plan.

Stanton finally came up with a plan. Then she made her move.

Starscream watched with slight amusement as Stanton flipped her jet over and twisted it in the air so that she was set in a head-on collision course with Starscream. She started firing at him, as though she was putting her all into this last assault.

Starscream aimed, and then fired his missile straight for the nose of the F-22.

The results were quite explosive…literally.

As Starscream sailed above the fireball, he idly wondered if Stanton somehow managed to escape the burning wreckage, but then decided that she couldn't have; there was no visible parachute below. As a precaution however, he doubled back. A quick scan of the falling wreck revealed that there was no human bio-signature… but there _was_ one plummeting toward the ground. He almost let it go, but a scan of the signature revealed it to be a very familiar one…

_Alexis._

The only explanation that his processor came up with was that he'd missed an important development in the planning process of the operation. He distinctly remembered saying to Stanton all those days ago, '_Pull __Preston __off __the __operation __completely, __or __your __government _might _hear __about __the __forged __letters __and __the __other__… __underhanded __deals __that __you __made __to __get __this __far.__'_

Had Stanton gone back on her deal just to spite him?

His suspicions were proven correct when the flight helmet came off, releasing a dark-haired ponytail. Despite everything that had happened, something told him to go after her, that he would deeply regret his lack of action if she died.

He dived after her shrinking form.

The wind whistled past his audio-receptors as he shot for where he estimated her to be; the black of her flight uniform was blending with the gray cityscape below. Her heat signature was wavering, as though it couldn't decide whether to stay or leave her body.

The proximity alarm was his only warning.

Starscream immediately broke off his current course as he shot back up into the sky, the heat of the missile barely skimming across his form. His armor groaned under the stress of Earth's gravity as he twisted around to see another F-22 Raptor keeping up with him. Its signature was foreign, but the bio-signature was familiar; he should have killed Skye when he had the chance. _Now_ he was regretting not finishing her off earlier.

She kept up the assault. A scan of the jet's armor showed that this was one of the modified ones, and would hold up better in an assault from him than Skye's last jet. As he ducked and twisted to escape Skye's persistent attacks, he reflected the current situation.

It wasn't looking good. Somehow, the battle had turned around when he least expected it to. Skywarp was _still_ missing, Barricade was missing and out of contact, and Thundercracker, for lack of a better word, was grounded. Starscream himself was still dealing with Skye. At least he could save face in front of Megatron; he would just explain that he just happened to be in the neighborhood when Barricade called saying that he knew where the Witwicky boy was. Unfortunately, N.E.S.T. just also happened to be in the area at the same time and happened to have reinforcements. Megatron wouldn't complain about a reduction in enemy numbers… hopefully.

/_Starscream? __I __believe __that __a __retreat __would __be __advisable __right __now/_ Thundercracker said, sounding a little disgruntled.

/_I __agree__… __where __is __Skywarp? __He__'__ll __need __to __take __you __back __to __the _Nemesis _/_ Starscream replied as he barely dodged Skye's blast. She was really starting to annoy him now.

/ _Skywarp __is __on __his __way, __his __ETA __is __one __Earth __minute. __Dare __I __ask __where __the _Nemesis _is?_/ Thundercracker asked.

/ _It__'__s __on __Saturn__'__s __moon, __the __one __called__ '__Charr__'__. __Here __are __the __coordinates. __I__'__ll __meet __you __both __there_/ Starscream as he shot for the upper atmosphere, not bothering to dodge Skye's blasts anymore. He probably should though, mostly because Skye wasn't desperate like Alexis had been, and was actually hitting him now.

/ _Knowing __my __luck, __Skywarp __will __take __us __to __the __edge __of __the __solar __system __first_ / Thundercracker muttered as Starscream accelerated faster through the upper levels of Earth's atmosphere; Skye had finally broken off her attacks, she wasn't stupid enough to pursue him through the atmosphere and into space.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Thundercracker shot at his Autobot enemies two more times before a grumbling Skywarp not so gently picked him up. The remaining F-22s swooped in to try to bring them down one more time, but before they could, Skywarp lifted Thundercracker a few hundred feet into the air before there a was a flash of white. Just like that, the two Seekers were gone.

Then an eerie silence blanketed the city.

* * *

**A/N: Brainstormed with Nanoe a bit with this one. I also borrowed the duck 'joke' from another story that I was reading recently. So while I hang out in my secret shelter, hiding from any angry reviewers, I'll continue prepping the next chapter for posting for next Saturday. Projected story completion date is looking like December 10th, 2011, after which I'll take a break from posting multi-chaptered stuff in order to continue with _Imperial __Hunter_'s rewrite and the new 2012 lineup. Finally, Rose Connelly belongs to Bells of Eden and requires her permission to use elsewhere.**


	34. Tranquility

Thirty-Four

Tranquility

Fourteen days slipped past.

December came with swirling snow and cold winds. Even Washington D.C. was graced with a snowfall on the one day that Kina Skye was summoned to Sibley Hospital for the mandatory debriefing. Everything up to that point had been a whirlwind of cleanup and rebuilding places and lives.

She was sitting with Major Lennox and Optimus Prime in a small, enclosed room in the hospital, the room silent after having told their shared version of how the New York disaster came about. Joseph Thayer had remained completely silent during the telling and he was now leaning back in his chair with his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. His winter coat was draped on the back of his chair, and he was in casual clothing while Kina was still in her gray uniform. Major Lennox was wearing his dress uniform as well, and Optimus was in a formal attire that Kina couldn't name off the top of her head.

"That… that is one _hell_ of a story. It's _almost_ as crazy as the one I heard from my friend, Agent Sadusky. It was a wild tale about two-thousand-year government conspiracies and our founding fathers being members of some secret organization," Thayer finally said, looking up at them. "Or maybe it's not almost as crazy because I'm too used to getting Cybertronian-related incident reports from other officers. I keep sending those back to my secretary and tell her to send those to the 'appropriate offices', not mine."

"We do get those reports sir," Major Lennox said, but fell silent when Thayer gave him a dark look.

"And you would get them faster if my officers knew where to send them in the first place instead of to me," Thayer said, focusing on Lennox as he spoke. Kina didn't envy Lennox; she'd been on the receiving end of that glare numerous times herself. Thayer meanwhile forward across the small table and said, "It doesn't help _anyone_ that N.E.S.T. insists on operating in secrecy and still expects to handle _all_ of the Cybertronian-related crises across the planet." He paused before lowering his voice and said, "While we're all being honest here, I'll let you know that I don't even send half of those reports to you anymore because they are _useless_ by the time they get even to me." He paused to take a breath before rounding on Optimus. "I don't know why you wanted to remain a secret in the first place, but I sincerely hope you plan to change that soon."

"We will be seeing Mr., Johnson, the Secretary of Defense, soon concerning our identities. I am hoping that it will be a sign of trust that we reveal ourselves to the public," Optimus said in a steady voice as he met Thayer's gaze. "It will be easier to operate as well since we will have more mobility in the open."

"Has anyone decided whether to say something about Mission City and Jordan or not?" Thayer asked, turning to Lennox.

"We are going to tell the full story, we owe the people that much," Optimus said before Lennox could speak.

"Good. That's something I can't wait to see you carry out," Thayer said before closing his eyes and pressing his fingers to his temples. Then he said "General Skye?"

"Sir?" Kina said, straightening in her seat.

"Don't think you're off the hook just because I haven't chewed you out yet. It's just that I can't deal with you right now because right now I have a million other things to deal with, including but not limited to NEST's debut as an international security taskforce and tons of ruffled federal feather," Thayer said. He glanced back at Lennox and Optimus and said bluntly, "Now I know that the president apparently picks awful liaisons for you guys, but for the love of God just grit your teeth and bear the next one. One more massive screw-up and the United Nations folks will try his or her hardest to replace N.E.S.T. completely." He paused to draw in another breath before saying, "Major Lennox, Optimus Prime, you are both dismissed."

Major Lennox jumped to his feet and saluted sharply before turning around and leaving the small conference room. Optimus however got up at a slower pace while nodding respectfully toward Thayer. Thayer waited until both were completely out of the room and the door was shut again before turning to Kina, who looked somewhat nervous.

"Major Lennox and everyone else in N.E.S.T. may be getting elevated in status, but it's none of their business about what is going on within the Air Force, not anymore. N.E.S.T. has their mandate, we have ours," Thayer said to Kina, who nodded in silence. "For starters, you have recently created a paperwork nightmare for me because while Stanton did deliberately mislead you, you were the commanding officer and the operation was your responsibility," he said, suppressing a sigh. "But it appears that we both have much to learn about our extra-terrestrial friends. OF course, in a perfect world, all Cybertronian threats will be handled by _them_, leaving the rest of us to refocus our attention back on matters such as the war in Iraq."

"But it can never work out like that," Kina said quietly.

"Right, because life just doesn't work out that way. Frankly, I'd prefer that their damn All-Spark thingy never landed here in the first place. That way, the Autobots and the Decepticons would never have had a reason to come here," Thayer said, rubbing his forehead. "I mean, don't we have enough to contend with without the Autobots adding to the mess?"

"I see your point, sir."

"In the meantime, I still have to transfer federal custody of Ms. Jenna Parker to the Central Intelligence Agency…" Thayer began but Kina interrupted him.

"Major Lennox said that Barricade said that Parker was dead," Kina said, frowning as she recalled the memory.

"Well, _we_ thought she was dead too when rescue teams pulled her from the wreckage. She came around a full hour later, but is giving us her full cooperation. Even though it's not an excuse, she said that her treasonous activities were done out of spite to the federal government since apparently no one noticed her missing. CIA internal politics _never_ get involved with that because they'll never let you go." Thayer pulled out three manila folders from underneath the table, all unmarked. "Now general, you mentioned earlier before all this that you were thinking of assembling a new squadron?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of reassembling the four-oh-first sir. But yes, I would like to do that as long as it is all right with you still and…"

"I figure out what your discipline is going to be," Thayer finished. "Did you have anyone in mind as your second-in-command?"

"Captain Preston, but that was before all this. If she doesn't want to continue, then that will be alright."

"Is it true what I heard about the captain? That she fell several thousand feet and _still_ survived?" Thayer reached for the folder on Kina's far right.

"Actually sir, she fell about several hundred feet before the _Autobot_ Skyfire pulled off an incredible maneuver and more or less caught her. I don't know how for sure because I was chasing after Starscream," she explained.

"Injuring yourself farther in the process," Thayer noted, pointedly looking at the cast on Kina's wrist. Kina grimaced at the memory; the doctor had had a _fit_ when he saw the extent of her injuries, especially around her ribcage. Miraculously there had been no broken bones, just a lot of bruises and aches. Somehow she'd managed to avoid a concussion when she'd landed, and she was grateful for that.

Kina accepted the folder from Thayer and looked inside to find all of Alexis's records, starting from her training days to the present date. Also included was a photocopy of Alexis's most recent medical records, and Kina could tell it didn't look good just by perusing through the photocopy.

"Captain Preston will have to undergo another medical examination before she is permitted to fly again. This is of course assuming that she still wants to fly again."

"Of course sir, I just…" Kina began but stopped when Thayer continued talking.

"She should be reminded that there are other alternatives to active service. For example, Lieutenant Aliskevicz has requested a transfer to the reserve forces so that she could have some recovery time with her fiancé. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, and her request was granted. However you cannot add her to the squadron roster. Another option is to resign." Thayer pushed the middle folder across the table. "This individual however, wants to join. Lieutenant Tyrone Maxwell has been recovering from repeated attempts on his life from the Decepticons. He will be taking the medical examinations again soon, but the doctors are hopeful."

Kina just nodded as she silently recalled what she remembered about Maxwell. He and Alexis used to date before this whole mess started. Then at some point, Skywarp replaced Maxwell. Then the real Maxwell managed to escape and had been receiving medical attention at Suffolk County. She took the middle folder from Thayer. "Will that be all, sir?"

"No. I need one more thing from you." He tapped the third folder on the table. "I want a testimony from you about Colonel Stanton's actions during this operation. I want it on my desk at ten hundred hours tomorrow. I want the complete, unbiased version of the events from your perspective, and I want you to include Stanton's role and actions in it all. I spoke with Major Lennox about his role, and he said he'd held back the information on purpose because he knew that it would eventually reach Stanton's ears, and even I'll admit that she abuses such information too frequently." Thayer pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm leaving Lennox at the mercy of his superior officer, I don't even want to deal with that anymore."

"So then is Wilson, Stanton's son, and Simmons all testifying too?"

"Wilson, no. He wasn't involved this time around. Simmons is going to town with this obviously, and the son is going to be tricky to handle. I'm dealing with the others one at a time, so give me a little while please." Thayer looked at his watch. "I have to go now, the agents have hauled up that Rodney Lockeyes character up all the way from the southwest for interrogation and they want me present for this."

"Lockeyes? Isn't he the forger from Oroville that got arrested because he forged the signature of the Secretary of Defense?"

"Yes, and you would think that he would know better than to commit a second time _the __same __crime_ that put him in prison in the first place. Both Johnson and Keller were _furious_ when they recognized his handiwork in Stanton's papers. Turned out that was how she got clearance for the op. Chances are good she'll be doing time for a while for God knows what, the prosecutors have plenty of charges to choose from." Thayer stood up and Kina promptly copied him. "But anyway, testimony, my desk, ten hundred tomorrow. Dismissed."

Kina saluted sharply and then gathered up the three folders before leaving the small room.

She hadn't realized how tense she'd been until the door to the conference room was closed behind her and she couldn't feel Thayer's gaze on her anymore.

"Need help?"

Kina looked up to see Ari standing there, looking drained while a miserable Sam Witwicky was staring at his cell phone behind her. "No thank you, I've got it," Kina said, making sure that the papers were secured in her good hand. "How are you doing?"

"Eh, I've been better. Just brainstormed with Ironhide the best way for a human to take down a Seeker, just in case Starscream or Skywarp show up at my house trying to psych either Tyler or I out," Ari said, shrugging. She turned to glance at Sam. "His girlfriend apparently just broke up with him via text message. New York evidently was the last straw for her. Even _I_ know that text message is a cold way to break up though," she muttered loud enough for just Kina to hear. "So where are you headed?" she asked in a normal voice.

"Office, and then I'm going home. I need at least two hours of quiet time right now," Kina said, closing her eyes briefly to ward off the oncoming headache. "What about you?"

"Well, I'd like to go home too, but Thayer gave me another job to do. Apparently the DC operation two years ago is still classified information, but somehow it managed to get published all over the Internet earlier in July of this year. Of course, Thayer suspects it was someone within the four-oh-first because the story starts with Captain Thompson's funeral. Kind of freaky if you ask me," Ari said, scratching her head.

"Did you do it? Provide and/or publish it I mean," Kina asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ari scowled and balled her fists at her side. "Okay, I know I have a spotty track record when it comes to publicity, but why is it whenever something secret goes public or something goes wrong, everyone assumes that _I_ was the perpetrator?" she demanded, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.

"Maybe because you _are_ usually the perpetrator," Kina muttered but Ari didn't seem to hear as she continued to rant.

"…so for the six hundredth time, _it __wasn__'__t __me_!" Ari finished, her eyes still wide with slight hysteria. She breathed heavily as she gazed steadily at Kina.

Kina waited until she was sure that Ari was done before she asked, "Feel better now?"

"Yes, I feel much better now." Ari's shoulders sagged with exhaustion. "I do have one more question though, have you seen Major Lennox? I caught Skywarp trying to see Alexis and I ran him out of the hospital. He was using the Maxwell guise again and I wasn't going to let him manipulate her a second time." She smirked while hugging herself a bit.

Kina just didn't have the energy to explain to Ari about the mix-up. "I'll pass the message along," Kina assured the other woman, who nodded silently.

"I guess I'll just go then, I've already checked on Alexis. Doc says she'll be out of it for a while so her body can recover without her mind getting overwhelmed. Or at least that's what I got out of his long, medical-technical explanation." Ari buried her hands into her jacket pockets. "Not much else I can do here," she added before abruptly reaching for her worn baseball cap, as though to make sure it was still there.

"Aw, come here," Kina said, and Ari grinned briefly before accepting the one-armed hug. Take care, and tell Tyler I said hi," Kina said, stepping back.

"You take care, and please be careful. Especially if you're going to be dealing with morons like the Decepticons," Ari said, managing a small smile and a wave before she turned and left the hall, Sam trailing after her.

Kina checked to make sure she still had all three folders from Thayer and that all of their contents were undisturbed. It wouldn't have been the first time Ari had lifted something off a person by hugging them, and Kina seriously doubted that Ari was going to stop just because she was in the reserve forces now. So it didn't hurt to check now.

After walking for a few moments, she found Major Lennox standing outside a small observation window. Glancing inside, she recognized the doctor that had been treating Alexis for the last two weeks. He was moving around outside a bed that was hidden behind the curtains, but Kina knew very well who was there. "Any changes?" she asked.

"No. He hasn't really spoken to me at all," Lennox replied.

"Did Thayer mention the Maxwell conundrum to you?"

"Yes, before you arrived." He didn't look away from the glass.

"Well, I think the original Maxwell tried to see Alexis a little while ago," Kina said. "Ari ran him out of the hospital the moment she saw him."

"That would explain the cranky hospital staff in the lobby. Thanks for telling me. I think it's safe to assume though that this is the real Maxwell since neither Skywarp nor Starscream will try to contact Alexis again. There's no point anymore," Lennox said.

"I understand what you're saying. Unfortunately, I don't know if Alexis will want to see him again. Too many memories associated with the name and face. I suppose I'll have to take Maxwell and fully explain everything." Acknowledging the regret of the task before her, she thought of the folder in her hands. She wanted Alexis to recover, and the woman's life was going to be rough without Kina bothering her. Kina didn't want Alexis to feel obligated to join the new squadron either. She made a mental note to return Alexis's file to Thayer the next time she saw him.

"Well, I have to go now. Meeting with Johnson before N.E.S.T. goes public. Hopefully he's in a better mood than Thayer or the Army Chief of Staff," Lennox said finally. He nodded once in Kina's direction before he said, "General" by way of farewell.

Kina just tilted her head in acknowledgement before Lennox left. Then she refocused her attention back on her friend, or at least where Alexis should be behind the light-blue curtains. The doctor was now collecting used medical instruments for proper disposal; he was done with his work.

Kina's was about to start.

"I'll be back, promise," she said, touching the glass lightly with her fingertips before she left.

It wasn't until she reached the entrance lobby that she saw what Lennox meant by 'cranky staff'. Even though the receptionist smiled when Kina signed out and another staff member offered to call a taxi for her, there was still an underlying tension in the room. It didn't take Kina very long to find the source either.

Right outside the hospital entrance, Tyrone Maxwell was sitting on a nearby bench, hands shoved deep into his windbreaker's pockets. He looked like a thinner version of Skywarp's projection, but then again, he did just recently leave the hospital after his escape from the Seekers. She paused in front of him, but he didn't seem to have heard her approach. "Lieutenant Maxwell?" she asked softly.

At the mention of his name, he looked up at her. When he realized that not only was she Air Force, but a general as well, he scrambled to his feet and saluted. "Ma'am."

"At ease, you're out of uniform." He relaxed, and then she said, "I take it you know Captain Preston?"

"Yes ma'am, she was my former commanding officer," Maxwell said. He hesitated, and then asked, "Will she be all right?"

Kina nodded. "She should be. However, you and I have some things we need to discuss before I let you see her again, mostly your time in captivity. Some things happened that may have left her unprepared to see you again so soon." Without breaking her gaze at him, she said, "So I want you to watch the Secretary of Defense's upcoming press conference, jot down any questions you might have, and then bring them to me to my office in four days." She arched an eyebrow. "Any questions about what I just said?"

Maxwell hesitated, and Kina could see it all in his eyes. "One. Will all of this tie back to Alexis somehow?" he asked.

"Yes, I promise it will. But remember, until we speak, leave Captain Preston alone," she reminded him. She smiled briefly before she said, "Good day Lieutenant Maxwell."

"Good day… ma'am," he said, stumbling slightly when he realized that he didn't know her name. Kina meanwhile had started to walk away.

Kina had maintained anonymity on purpose. She didn't know if Alexis had mentioned her to Maxwell at any point, and she didn't want their friendship strained because of ladder climbers. She'd wait until she had the home field advantage in the Pentagon before introducing herself.

The gray mist of the early evening in Washington D.C. soon swallowed her form completely.

* * *

**A/N: Virtually raise your hand if you thought I was referring to Sam's hometown in the chapter title. :) On a slightly more serious note, when this story is completed, the rewrite for _Imperial __Hunter_ will be the last bit for this particular storyline.**


	35. Forever

Epilogue

Forever

"I look ridiculous."

Major Lennox paused in the adjustment of his own uncomfortable tie to look at Ironhide…and managed to bite back a broad grin at the sight of the Autobot weapons specialist's hologram in a suit. The nearby assistant had also apparently noticed; she had tucked her folders and papers underneath one arm and had a compact mirror out as she fussed with her appearance.

It was the morning after his conversation with Skye and Thayer. Now he, Optimus and Ironhide were preparing for their debut as a public international security taskforce. Johnson had arranged the press conference, now all they had to do was announce their identities, their intentions, and field the questions that the audience would have.

"Well, at least you don't have to feel the suit or tie," Lennox said to Ironhide, who scowled. "Sarah _always_ makes the tie too tight."

"Remember also that this is our opportunity to make a good impression toward the humans, especially since we will reveal our involvement with Mission City and Jordan," Optimus warned as Keller came into the small backstage area.

"What are we looking at for an audience?" Lennox asked.

"A lot of high profile ladies and gentlemen as high up as the United Nations. We're going up in a few minutes," Keller said. "You will all wait behind the curtains for Johnson to make the opening remarks and introductions, and then you will step out." He frowned and asked, "Winnie, what on earth are you doing that for?"

The assistant quickly snapped the compact mirror shut as she murmured an apology to Keller. Keller shook his head after she left the room. "I don't know what has gotten into her today, she's been acting odd ever since you all have arrived. That is strange because she knows you."

"Yeah, me specifically," Lennox corrected. "Ironhide in a formal suit however is a new sight for her, and she seems to like it," he added, grinning at Ironhide's deepening scowl. The four individuals left the small backstage area and walked out to the waiting area that was right behind the curtains off to the side.

Keller muttered something under his breath before he said aloud, "Johnson is extremely nervous about the reception. He's worried that there's a possibility that N.E.S.T. could be shut down; all the Secretary General has to do is lean on and pressure the president. I know that it is not likely, since there are still Decepticons out there, including Megatron, but there's always the possibility of replacement." Keller glanced at Optimus and said, "The humans would be replaced, and the Secretary General would want your cooperation."

"And he will receive it, no matter what happens," Optimus replied.

"What works in all of your favor is that Stanton is getting the full blast for the disaster in New York. There were both military and civilian casualties involved with this, but Stanton is going to be held responsible for as many as the prosecution can pin on her," Keller said grimly as Lennox took a peek through the curtains at the slowly growing audience.

Lennox let out a low whistle. "The Secretary General is here all right. I take that our _potential_ replacement leader is the one sitting next to him? The one with the left eye-patch?" he asked, stepping back to allow Keller to see through as well.

"Him? Oh no, I think he's just here at the Secretary General's invitation. He's still in hot water for that Secret War incident around twenty or so years ago, rarely comes out of his latest hiding place anymore," Keller said. "No, the potential replacement leader is the one on the Secretary General's other side, we spoke before I came to get you."

Lennox frowned as he studied the man that Keller had pointed out. The man's head was bowed slightly as he listened to something the Secretary General was whispering to him. "That can't be who I think it is… wasn't he shot on the steps of the New York Federal Courthouse a couple years ago? Declared dead upon arrival to Mercy Hospital?"

Keller shrugged. "An error on the media's part? Wouldn't be the first time. He seems perfectly healthy to me," he said. "Of course he does have a record of being at Death's door before pulling off a spectacular recovery."

"Right… and the man next to him?"

"A billionaire from New Jersey," Keller said, giving Lennox a knowing look. "He's been providing the military a large portion of hardware for N.E.S.T."

"Okay, I guess I didn't know that," Lennox said. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Who is going to be our new liaison?"

"The Director of National Intelligence, right there in the seat in front of the billionaire. She's a little…firm, so she definitely won't appreciate any rule breaking or bending," Keller warned, and Lennox nodded before looking back out.

"Who is the man next to the National Intelligence Director?" Lennox asked.

Keller looked, and then grimaced. "Army general. He went chasing after snakes earlier this year, it was quite the battle out in the Sahara," he said, glancing at Lennox. "Poor devil must have lost his eye during the battle…"

"I didn't know we had a base out in the Sahara."

"Officially, we don't," Keller said without looking at Lennox. "The Egyptian government can only tolerate us so much." He sighed and checked his watch. "Three minutes until show time. Remember," he said, turning back to Optimus and Ironhide, "Nothing has been decided yet. If the media comes out with 'What will you do next', or _anything_ even remotely close to that question, do not answer it. Just tell them that the answer is classified and move on. The media is going to try their damnedest to force you back to the original question. Either resist or wait for Johnson to step in. Otherwise, the media will grab your words and _yank_ them out of your mouth and publish it for the world to see."

"That little brat there in the front already did," Ironhide growled, and Lennox glanced through the curtains. He instantly recognized the young photographer from Three Waters Park, although the photographer was alone at the moment.

"Who?" Keller asked.

"The newspaper publication from New York that has that special feature section, _The __Pulse_. I thought I told you about this, but the kid there is the main photographer for the paper. He's the one I tried to confiscate the snapshots from the battle in New York. I failed, and the paper retaliated with a story about a big government cover-up. I still don't know how he figured out that Mission City, Jordan, Washington D.C. and this recent battle in New York were all connected, but he did and it all got published," Lennox replied. He glanced at Keller and said, "We're just confirming the story with the press conference."

"Do you think he made the connection with that story on the Internet? The one that Lieutenant Aliskevicz is _supposed_ to be investigating?" Keller asked as Johnson's assistant and Winnie arrived to the backstage area.

"No, I took a look at the copy that Aliskevicz emailed me. Readers seem to be taking it as a piece of fiction rather than fact. It's already off the Internet though and we traced the source to an unregistered computer in the southwest. Aliskevicz is going after the owner, user, or both if they are different people," Lennox said as Johnson appeared and cleared his throat for attention.

Satisfied that everyone was paying attention to him, Johnson looked around at them and said, "I guess that Keller already gave you the rundown? The only things we are confirming here is the existence of Cybertronians in general and the existence and role of N.E.S.T." He sighed, and then said, "I will try to step in when the media starts hounding for a certain answer, but I can't do it _too_ often or they'll notice and get the idea that we're trying to hide something. _Then_ we'll definitely have a feeding frenzy on our hands." Johnson pinched the bridge of his nose. "Media aside, I suppose you all are already aware that the Secretary General is here?"

"Yes sir. And we've noticed that he's brought friends."

Johnson nodded. "The Vice President just arrived with a few members of the military command staff, the ones we kept in the dark. They are going to want to see proof of your 'claims'. How you decide to do that is completely up to you." He watched as his aide walked out onto the stage, effectively silencing all background chatter from the audience. "Major, Optimus Prime, Ironhide, I wish you all the best of luck out there, because God knows you'll need it," he said right as the aide announced his name. Then he turned and promptly walked out onto the stage.

"Sector Seven came up as a possible question from the media. Simmons wanted to come as well, but I told him that the government was still deciding his fate so he shouldn't push his luck," Keller whispered as Johnson began speaking to the audience. "But if anyone asks, be as honest as you want. Sector Seven is one of their favorite topics anyway," he added when the audience outside clapped.

"Very well sir," Lennox whispered back as Johnson announced them all. "All right, show time guys. Go easy on the weaponry talk Ironhide. They're going to be nervous enough about extraterrestrial life as it is without the extra knowledge about the firepower… besides, they have a pretty good idea already," he said before they all stepped out onto the stage and into the wave of flashing cameras.

* * *

"The boy lives?"

Starscream flinched. "Yes my lord. Barricade failed to reclaim the Witwicky boy, but it was not his fault. The humans overwhelmed us in their sheer numbers, outmatching us and forcing a retreat."

Megatron looked down at the silent Seeker. Somewhere off in the distance, an animal of the African plains let out a pain-filled howl as Ravage pounced before resuming his exploration of the Decepticons' newest albeit temporary home and hiding place. Megatron hadn't wanted to risk the humans using Shockwave to find the hideout on Charr, so he'd relocated the entire group to Earth, where the Autobots wouldn't suspect them to be.

"If the numbers are the problem, then perhaps we can find a way to exploit that to our advantage," Megatron finally said, and Starscream suspected that the Decepticon leader was thinking of the cargo that the Decepticons had recently found on their way back to Earth. "Now go," Megatron said almost lazily before turning away.

Starscream didn't hesitate. After bowing once more, he scuttled away and quickly rejoined his two comrades. The Seekers were situated near the Decepticon encampment, far away enough to have their own private conversations without eavesdroppers but still within close enough visual range so Megatron could still monitor the three of them at his leisure. Thundercracker was still recovering from his torn wing while Skywarp was stretched out on the grass, letting the sun dry out his new coat of purple paint (coincidentally, Starscream recently learned from the Internet that a major paint company suffered the loss of one of their biggest factories in the United States. The cause of the destruction was still unknown).

"Starscream, can you tell Skywarp to knock it off with the running commentary about the Internet? He's looking for something about a fan club," Thundercracker said grumpily.

"Since _when_ did he get a fan club? The humans _just_ found out about us today, there is no way he could have a fan club _now_," Starscream snapped.

"Well, according to one of the human pilots at New York, he apparently has a fan club," Thundercracker replied crankily as he moved away from Skywarp.

_There __is __the __problem_, Starscream thought darkly as he turned to pop Skywarp's bubble when Skywarp suddenly announced, "Found it!"

"What? Prove it!" Starscream demanded.

Skywarp, after making sure that Megatron wasn't watching, turned and projected what looked like a webpage from a popular human social networking site. There was the photo of Skywarp in his F-22 guise, and Starscream recognized the interior of the hangars in Washington D.C. in the background.

The person who uploaded the photo was identified as 'Tess Aliskevicz'.

It did not take an idiot to figure out who had taken the photograph. If it wasn't enough, the caption even read, 'My sister-in-law sent to me this photograph of a purple F-22 Raptor. Whoever did this has a great sense of style'.

But otherwise, Skywarp was right. Almost sixteen hundred people were already fans, even if they still didn't know the truth about him.

Leaving Skywarp alone, Starscream took off for the sky, just to get away from Megatron and plot in peace. The atmospheric temperature dropped slightly as he reached a comfortable cruising altitude.

He'd jacked a satellite signal to watch the press conference earlier that day. He was only half surprised that the human leaders hadn't reacted very much to the announcement about the Cybertronians' existence, which made him suspect that they had already known going in. The media… well, it was as though someone had lit a figurative firecracker under all of the seats. Even the usually stoic Optimus Prime looked startled to see the sudden forest of hands in the air and the endless onslaught of questions. The men and women who were sitting near the back of the audience meanwhile were clearly from either the United States government as well as another governing body; Starscream hadn't recognized the insignia on the uniforms of the Secretary General's companions. The unsettling thing was that even after he'd scoured FBI and CIA records and databases, he _still_ couldn't identify the symbol. It was as though the group simply didn't exist anymore. Identifying the symbol was on his to-do list of things to complete in his spare time, which he knew he was going to have plenty of since Megatron had recently ordered the Decepticons to lay low for the time being. Until the time was right that is.

Starscream knew what Megatron's plans were at the moment. Starscream figured that a certain traitor ally would be easier to work under and eventually overthrow, so all he had to do was wait until Megatron lost his spot as top Decepticon.

Yes, Starscream was patient. He wouldn't be around today if he weren't.

New York City had been something of a symbolic victory for Starscream. Yes, he had lost the battle and failed to kill Witwicky. But in doing so, he had forced the Autobots to reveal their presences to the humans. The humans, already somewhat mistrustful of their government, would further believe that their government was responsible for further deception. This in turn would create anxiety and fear, leaving the human race a pliable organism that would bend easily to Starscream's will.

Alexis Preston however, although now a part of a half-forgotten past, was still lingering in his processor. Probably because he never did find out if she survived the fall or not. But he knew better than to check the hospital records; N.E.S.T. would be closely monitoring all electronic systems in order to catch Starscream in such an act. Megatron would kill Starscream for sure if he found out that the only reason N.E.S.T. caught up to the Decepticons was because Starscream was careless when checking up on a _human __girl_.

Maybe, one day, when the Autobots were no longer looking for him, he would go back and find her. See if she survived or not, and, regardless of her current status, pinpoint her location.

One day.

/_Starscream?_/

Starscream scanned his surroundings to find that both Thundercracker and Skywarp had joined him in flight. /_What __is __it?__/_

/_Megatron __wants __the __three __of __us __to __leave __the __planet __and __start __assembling t__he __Decepticon __troops. __Rendezvous __point __will __be __the __planet __that __the __humans __call __ '__Mars__'_/ Thundercracker reported.

_I see what you are doing here, Megatron. You want to keep me occupied to stay out of your way. But I'll humor you and keep playing your game… for now._

The three Seekers left burning trails of fire as they all angled for the cold dark reaches of space beyond Earth's atmosphere.

-Finis-

* * *

**A/N: That is the end of Operation Jaguar, thank you _everyone_. Thank you very much for bearing with me and for all the support you've given me over the years. Rose Connelly belongs to Bells of Eden, Jade Rivers belongs to JadeDolphin22, Erin Everett belongs to Strawberrytop007, and Kina Skye belongs to Nanoe. Finally, I left a fact or two about each cameo attached with his/her appearance that should help identify them (hint: you've already seen one in this story already, and another is in the third Transformers film). Transformers and all related characters, concepts, and related media belong solely to Hasbro. All the cameos belong to their proper owners as well.**


End file.
